T353 


WILLIAM  S.  TEVIS,  Jr. 


GIFT  OF 
Author 


THE  HORSE 


J     1  . 


THE  HORSE 


WILLIAM  S.  TEVIS,  Jr. 


Privately  Printed 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CALIFORNIA 
December,   1922 


x 

',**,• 
*  «•  *     C          « 


*  « 

..1 


Copyright  1922 
By  William  S.  Tevis,  Jr. 


f 


To 
MY  FRIEND 

Whose  interest  and  help  made 
possible  this  little  book 


5  3  i  f » 5  D 


CONTENTS 


Page 
Introduction    9 

J  CHAPTER  I. 

-*-*  IV  -J 

How   to   approach    a    horse — Bridling — Saddling — Mounting 

— Dismounting — An  episode  near  Lake  Tahoe 11 

V  CHAPTER  II. 

X* 

Balance — How  to  keep  it — Experience  with  bucking  horses 
— Correct  length  of  stirrup — Grip — How  it  counteracts 
inertia — European  cavalry  'man's  experiment — Seat — 
What  it  means  in  the  saddle — "The  End  ofx  the  Trail."  19 

CHAPTER  III. 

How  the  rider  controls  his  horse — Bits,  and  how  they  work 
— The  Martingale — Spurs — Whips — Balance — How  to 
start  and  stop  a  horse — How  to  make  a  horse  slide — 
Backing  a  horse — Changing  direction — Changing  leads 
at  a  gallop — Teaching  the  horse  to  trot  and  to  walk 
— Riding  without  reins 26 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Reining  a  horse — Use  of  different  bits — How  his  mouth  is 
made — The  natural  gaits — The  walk,  the  trot  and  the 
canter — Natural  gaits  more  useful  than  acquired  gaits 
— Popularity  of  five-gaited  horses  for  show  purposes — 
Jumping  and  swimming 34 

CHAPTER  V. 

Riding  up  and  down  hill  or  on  a  pavement — The  right  and 
wrong  ways  of  doing  so — Xenophon's  comments  about 
ancient  hill  riders — Opening  a  gate  when  on  horseback 
-Talking  to  horses — Efficacy  of  a  well-spoken  word— 
The  art  of  falling  off — How  best  to  escape  injury — A 
midnight  runaway  and  a  drop  in  the  darkness 42 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Racing  and  race  horses — Early  training — Reasons  for  the 
light  bit  and  the  short  stirrup — Use  and  misuse  of  the 
whip  in  racing — Horse  show  ethics — Looks  are  every- 
thing— Satisfy  the  judge — Importance  of  etiquette — 
Polo  ponies — They  just  happen  and  are  not  bred — 
Difficulty  of  finding  them — Amenities  of  the  polo  pony 
trade — What  constitutes  a  perfect  polo  pony 50 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Page 

Habits  of  the  horse,  natural  and  acquired — Getting  up  and 
Lying  down — Balking — A  useful  method  of  treating  it 
— Rolling — How  to  prevent  it — Pawing — Rearing — 
Striking — Kicking — Biting — Cinch  Binding — Shying — 
How  to  make  a  shying  horse  go  past  the  object  of  his 
terror  —  Stumbling  —  Falling  —  Prancing  —  Plunging — 
Crow-hopping — Bucking,  buck  jumpers  and  how  to 
ride  them — Some  general  remarks  about  equine  idio- 
syncrasies    56 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Running  away — A  dangerous  habit  and  difficult  to  cure — 

Story  of  an  incorrigible  runaway  and  his  fate 69 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Breaking  a  colt  to  the  saddle — A  short  method  of  taming 
and  training — How  the  colt  is  taught  to  tolerate  hand- 
ling— How  he  is  saddled  and  cinched  the  first  time — 
How  he  is  ridden 75 

CHAPTER  X. 

Buying  a  saddle  horse — Age  shown  by  the  teeth — How  to 
detect  poor  vision  and  other  defects — Splints,  ringbone, 
spavin  —  Sore  backs,  what  they  indicate  —  Shoulder 
lameness  and  navicular  disease — Laminitis  or  founder 
— Testing  a  horse  for  wind — How  to  recognize  a  wind- 
sucker  or  crib-biter 86 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Teaching  children  to  ride — Cannot  begin  too  young — An 
old  plug  better  than  a  pony — Experience  the  best 
riding  master — Psychology  of  the  horse — He  has  not 
the  power  of  deduction — Trick  horses — How  they  are 
made  to  appear  to  have  reasoning  faculties — They 
only  obey  commands 92 


> .  > 

l»  • 
> 


:.. 


I 

•  > 


INTRODUCTION 


The  horse  in  its  prehistoric  species  was  indigenous 
to  the  five  great  continents.  In  America  the  rock 
formations,  antedating  the  glacial  period,  give  us  an 
approximate  idea  of  the  animal  in  its  early  stages 
of  development.  With  the  glacial  period,  the  species 
became  extinct  in  America.  Not  until  the  sixteenth 
century  did  the  horse  again  make  its  appearance  on 
the  Western  Continent,  and  then  only  in  its  domes- 
ticated form,  with  the  advent  of  the  Conquistadors 
and  gold-seekers  from  the  Old  World. 

Indian  massacres  and  other  disasters  to  various 
mounted  expeditions  sent  out  by  the  invaders  re- 
sulted in  many  of  the  horses  brought  across  the 
seas  by  the  Europeans  coming  into  the  possession 
of  the  Indians.  Others,  escaping  the  pursuit  of  the 
sometimes  victorious  aborigine,  ran  wild  and  mul- 
tiplied in  the  fertile  valleys  of  Mexico  and  in  that 
portion  of  America  which  is  now  the  southwestern 
part  of  the  United  States. 

At  the  present  time,  several  States  in  the  western 
part  of  America  gave  forage  to  the  untamed  horses 
that  have  flourished  in  those  localities  since  their 
ancestors  sought  refuge  there  in  the  turbulent  pio- 
neer days. 

Science  encroaching  upon  nature  has  reduced  to 
a  mechanical  basis  nearly  all  lines  of  human  en- 
deavor, but  the  horse  can  never  be  entirely  replaced 
by  a  machine.  The  horse  can  carry  a  man  over 
many  places  where  it  would  be  impossible  for  a 
machine  to  go,  and  in  many  places  where  machines 
can  be  operated  the  horse  is  used  for  economy. 

The  horse,  being  a  living  thing,  embodies  a  kind 
of  perpetual  motion,  of  which  no  mechanical  pro- 
duction is  susceptible. 

9 


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')  T<aiige  'riding*,  mbimtam  trails,  cavalry,  horse  ar- 
tillery, hunting  to  hounds,  and  polo  belong  to  the 
horse  alone,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  in 
the  future,  as  in  the  past,  the  horse  will  hold  his 
place  as  the  animal  most  useful  to  man. 

In  the  following  pages  it  is  sought  to  give  the 
reader  some  practical  information  and  advice  about 
the  saddle  horse,  where  he  comes  from,  how  to  ride 
him,  his  habits  and  idiosyncrasies,  how  to  handle 
him  for  such  various  purposes  as  racing,  polo,  and 
the  horse  show,  how  to  break  him  in  for  use  as  a 
saddle  horse,  and  many  other  matters  of  analogous 
import. 

The  chapters  devoted  to  the  actual  technique  of 
riding  are  intended,  principally  and  necessarily,  for 
the  instruction  of  persons  not  already  proficient  in 
horsemanship.  They  point  out  the  right  way  of 
doing  most  things  that  are  customarily  associated 
with  equitation,  from  first  approaching  a  horse  to 
falling  off  its  back. 

Therefore  it  is  hoped  that,  as  well  as  being  of 
some  interest  to  the  seasoned  horseman,  the  book 
may  prove  of  some  primary  and  instructive  value  to 
the  amateur. 


10 


THE  HORSE 


sf  CHAPTER  I. 

How  to  approach  a  horse — Bridling — Saddling — Mounting — 
Dismounting — An  episode  near  Lake  Tahoe. 

Approaching. --The  safest  way  to  approach 
any  horse  is  to  do  so  from  a  point  off  his  near 
shoulder,  with  the  hand  extending  toward  the 
animal's  neck.  It  is  advisable  always  to  make 
a  horse  aware  of  one's  presence  before  he  is 
touched.  The  near  side  of  the  horse  has  been 
used  since  the  time  of  Simo,  said  to  be  the 
earliest  writer  upon  horsemanship,  for  nearly 
all  purposes  such  as  approaching,  mounting 
and  dismounting.  The  physical  character  of 
horse  and  man  make  easier  a  friendship  that 
is  begun  on  this  side.  To  handle  a  horse  on 
the  off  side  would  be  as  unsatisfactory  to  the 
average  horseman  as  trying  to  eat  with  the 
left  hand  would  be  to  most  people. 

When  a  vicious  horse  is  approached,  it  is 
possible  for  him  to  cow-kick,  strike  or  bite, 
and  the  part  of  the  shoulder  one  should  ap- 
proach is  that  point  which  is  most  difficult  for 
the  animal  to  reach  with  fore  feet  and  hind 
feet,  so  that  there  will  be  some  uncertainty  in 
the  horse's  mind  which  weapon  he  may  best 
use.  While  he  is  reflecting  in  this  manner, 
the  shoulder  can,  perhaps,  be  stroked. 

11 


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E 

Xenophon's  "Treatise  on  Horsemanship/' 
written  in  the  fourth  century,  B.  C.,  empha- 
sizes this  essential  in  approaching  a  horse: 

"But  whoever  is  employed  about  a  horse, 
ought  to  know  that  to  do  these  things,  and 
everything  else  that  he  has  to  do,  he  must 
come  as  little  as  possible  near  the  face  and  the 
tail ;  for  if  a  horse  is  inclined  to  be  vicious,  he 
has  in  both  these  parts  the  advantage  of  the 
man.  But  a  person  who  approaches  him  at 
the  side  can  manage  the  horse  with  least  dan- 
ger to  himself,  and  with  the  most  power  over 
the  beast." 

Bridling. — Hold  the  whole  bit  with  the  left 
hand  directly  under  and  within  a  foot  of  the 
horse's  lower  jaw.  Take  the  reins  in  the  right 
hand,  slip  them  over  the  head,  letting  the 
buckle  joining  the  reins  together  rest  on  the 
neck  immediately  behind  the  ears,  then  pull 
the  reins  with  the  right  hand  tight  around  the 
neck,  and  hold  them  together  with  the  right 
hand  resting  directly  under  the  horse's  jaw. 
The  purpose  of  doing  this  is  to  facilitate  brid- 
ling, in  as  much  as  the  horse's  head  may  be 
pulled  toward  the  one  who  bridles  by  the  reins. 
Move  the  bit  upward  toward  the  right  hand, 
so  that  the  fingers  of  the  right  hand  may  sup- 
port it  for  a  moment,  while  the  left  hand  re- 
leases the  bit  and  grasps  the  headstall  at  its 
uppermost  point,  which  is  the  middle  of  the 
band  behind  the  ears.  Then,  releasing  the  bit 

12 


THE-:-       HORSE 

/ 

with  the  fingers  of  the  right  hand,  let  it  hang 
suspended  from  the  headpiece,  while  the  left 
hand  carries  the  whole  bridle  forward  to  a 
point  directly  in  front  of  the  horse's  head. 

Now  bring  the  left  hand  toward  the  horse's 
head  until  it  touches  the  upper  part  of  the 
nose  in  such  a  way  that  either  side  of  the 
cheekpieces  hang  on  their  respective  sides  of 
the  horse's  face.  Now  the  right  hand  may  be 
released  from  the  reins  and  it  should  be 
brought  quickly  to  change  places  with  the 
left  hand  holding  the  headpiece.  The  left  hand 
simultaneously  is  dropped  so  that  it  grasps  the 
left  side  of  the  bit  above  the  mouth-bar,  with 
the  forefinger  protruding  in  such  a  way  as  to 
hold  the  curb  chain  extended. 

The  horse's  head  is  now  halfway  into  the 
bridle,  and  the  movement  of  the  head  may  be 
more  or  less  directed  by  the  pressure  of  the 
cheek  straps.  When  the  horse's  head  is  sta- 
tionary, the  bridler  quickly  raises  the  bit  for- 
ward and  directs  the  middle  of  the  mouth-bar 
toward  the  center  point  between  the  animal's 
teeth;  meanwhile,  with  the  fingers  of  the  left 
hand,  he  pries  open  the  jaws  of  the  animal. 
This  is  done  by  exerting  pressure  upward  and 
downward  at  a  point  on  the  near  side  of  the 
animal's  mouth  to  the  right  of  his  incisor  teeth. 
The  pressure  of  the  left  hand  on  the  side  of 
the  bit  is  now  directed  in  such  a  way  as  to 
bring  the  bit  into  the  horse's  mouth;  mean- 
is 


THE-:-       HORSE 

while  the  right  hand  takes  up  the  slack  of  the 
cheekstraps,  and  at  the  same  time  pulls  the 
headpiece  over  the  ears  of  the  horse.  The  left 
hand  may  then  release  the  bit,  and  pull  the 
browband  to  its  proper  position  directly  in 
front  and  below  the  ears  of  the  now  nearly 
bridled  horse. 

To  complete  the  operation,  reach  under  the 
neck  with  the  left  hand  and  take  the  buckle  of 
the  neckstrap,  which  should  be  hanging  on 
the  right  side  of  the  horse's  head ;  pull  it  under 
the  animal's  neck  and,  with  the  right  hand, 
pull  the  near  side  of  the  neckstrap  through 
the  buckle  and  its  proper  keeper. 

Saddling. — Place  the  saddle  blanket  well 
forward  on  the  animal's  withers,  and  then  pull 
it  a  few  inches  back.  This  insures  the  hair  lying 
smooth  underneath  and  helps  to  prevent  sore 
backs.  Take  the  pommel  of  the  saddle  with 
the  right  hand,  holding  the  left  stirrup  and 
the  cinchstrap  in  the  left  hand,  and  swing  the 
saddle  upward  toward  the  withers  of  the 
horse  with  sufficient  force  to  make  the  right 
stirrup  and  the  complete  cinch  swing  clear 
over  the  horse's  back.  Then,  releasing  the 
saddle  with  the  left  hand,  put  this  hand  under 
the  saddle  blanket  immediately  above  the 
horse's  withers,  and  pull  the  blanket  upward 
toward  the  fork,  so  that  the  part  of  the  saddle 
blanket  immediately  under  the  fork  will  not 
touch  the  horse. 

14 


THE-:-       HORSE 

Continuing  to  hold  the  saddle  and  saddle 
blanket  in  this  way,  move  them  forward  to- 
ward the  horse's  neck,  and  then  with  the 
right  hand  taking  the  cantle-flap  and  saddle 
blanket  immediately  under  it,  pull  the  blanket 
and  saddle  toward  the  tail  of  the  horse  until 
the  proper  place  is  reached  on  the  horse's  back. 
This  leaves  the  saddle  sitting  with  its  fore- 
part over  the  animal's  withers. 

Cinch  the  horse  carefully,  being  sure  that 
the  cinch  and  strap  are  not  turned,  and  pull 
the  cinch  tight  enough  so  that  the  saddle  can- 
not be  moved  easily  to  either  side.  A  very 
loose  cinch  is  likely  to  chafe  the  horse's  girth, 
and  a  very  tight  cinch  may  cause  a  swelling 
and  probably  impede  his  action. 

Mounting. — To  mount,  stand  facing  the 
horse  at  a  point  about  a  foot  away  and  oppo- 
site his  near  shoulder.  Take  the  reins  in  the 
left  hand  so  that  the  length  of  the  right  and 
left  reins,  respectively,  are  the  same  from  the 
bit  to  the  hand.  Place  the  hand,  holding  the 
reins,  on  the  neck  of  the  horse,  immediately 
above  the  withers,  and  draw  the  lines  through 
the  fingers  so  that  a  slight  feel  of  the  horse's 
mouth  may  be  maintained.  Take  the  left 
stirrup  in  the  right  hand  and  pull  it  forward 
until  it  almost  touches  the  horse's  foreleg.  The 
rider  should  partially  turn  his  left  shoulder 
toward  the  horse  and  place  the  toe  of  his  left 
boot  into  the  stirrup,  then  releasing  the  stirrup 

15 


THE-:-       HORSE 

with  his  right  hand  he  should  move  this  hand 
over  the  middle  of  the  saddle  and  take  a  firm 
grasp  of  any  protruding  leather  on  the  saddle's 
right  side,  or  the  pommel  itself  if  the  saddle  is 
Mexican.  Now  put  the  weight  of  the  body 
into  the  left  stirrup,  keep  the  toe  of  the  right 
boot  on  the  ground  until  a  balance  is  arrived 
at,  then  springing  from  the  ground  with  the 
right  foot,  swing  it  clear  of  the  back  and  cantle, 
straightening  the  left  leg  until  the  rider's 
weight  is  placed  evenly  in  the  middle  of  the 
saddle ;  put  the  right  foot  through  its  stirrup, 
release  the  right  hand,  and  the  horse  is 
mounted. 

Dismount  ing. --To  dismount,  lean  forward 
in  the  saddle  and  place  the  palm  of  the  left 
hand  on  the  animal's  neck  above  the  withers, 
at  the  same  time  holding  the  reins  with  this 
hand  so  that  a  slight  feel  of  the  horse's  mouth 
is  maintained. 

In  this  position  the  thumb  of  the  left  hand 
should  be  pointed  toward  the  saddle  and  the 
fingers  pressing  the  reins  against  the  animal's 
neck.  The  rider  should  now  take  a  firm  grasp 
of  any  protruding  leather  on  the  right  side  of 
the  saddle  near  its  center,  or  the  pommel  itself 
if  the  saddle  is  Mexican,  and  loosening  the 
right  foot  in  the  stirrup,  swing  the  right  leg 
backward  and  over  the  cantle  to  the  near  side, 
meanwhile  allowing  the  toe  of  the  left  foot  to 
pivot  so  that  it  points  toward  the  horse's 

16 


THE-:-       HORSE 

girth.  Then  place  the  right  foot  on  the  ground 
about  one  foot  from  the  horse's  near  shoulder, 
release  the  left  foot  from  its  stirrup  and  bring 
it  also  to  the  ground,  so  that  a  standing  posi- 
tion is  assumed  facing  the  animal's  near  shoul- 
der, as  in  mounting. 

On  a  vicious  horse  that  is  likely  to  kick,  the 
rider  can,  by  giving  a  jump  from  his  left  foot, 
just  before  the  right  foot  reaches  the  ground, 
throw  himself  several  feet  from  the  horse,  and, 
incidentally,  out  of  reach  of  his  legs. 

Near  Lake  Tahoe,  California,  I  saw  one  day 
a  cowboy  mounted  upon  a  notoriously  vicious 
horse.  An  Indian  was  standing  by  who  wore 
very  long  spurs.  The  cowboy  dismounted  and 
requested  that  he  be  allowed  to  borrow  these 
enormous  rowels.  He  then  remounted  his 
animal,  and,  in  order  to  see  how  these  spurs 
worked,  he  tickled  his  mount  in  the  ribs  with 
them.  Thereupon  the  animal,  with  a  wild 
scream,  leapt  into  the  air  and  did  some  sky- 
scraping  bucks. 

The  cowboy,  being  ill-advised,  was  taken  by 
surprise,  and  havirtg  slightly  lost  his  seat  from 
the  first  leap  into  the  air,  seemed  unable  to 
regain  it.  With  his,  right  hand  he  seized  the 
lariat  rope,  which  was  firmly  attached  to  the 
off  side  of  the  saddle,  and  was  suddenly 
thrown  toward  the  ground  off  the  near  side  of 
the  now  thoroughly  enraged  animal.  His  right 
spur  caught  the  back  of  the  cantle,  and  by 

17 


THE-:-       HORSE 

still  grasping  the  lariat  rope  he  succeeded  in 
keeping  his  head  a  foot  or  two  off  the  ground. 

His  head  by  this  time  was  at  the  point 
which,  in  another  chapter,  we  have  discussed  as 
being  the  most  efficacious  place  to  approach  a 
horse.  The  animal,  surprised  a£  being  grap- 
pled in  this  manner,  suddenly  ceased  his  gyra- 
tions and  stood  for  a  moment  perfectly  still. 
The  rider  hung  motionless.  Any  effort  he 
might  make  to  regain  the  saddle  would  cer- 
tainly fail  and  mean  certain  injury,  because  at 
the  man's  first  movement,  the  horse,  whose 
eyes  were  now  red,  would  give  him  a  terrible 
fall  with  bucks  and  kicks,  which  from  his  posi- 
tion he  would  be  powerless  to  avoid.  There- 
fore, as  he  explained  to  me  afterwards,  the 
rider  decided  to  dismount.  So,  suddenly,  he 
let  himself  drop  and  rolled  out  of  the  line  of 
danger  a  mere  fraction  of  a  second  before  the 
horse  struck  out  wildly  with  his  legs  and,  kick- 
ing and  bucking,  disappeared  into  the  neigh- 
boring pine  trees. 

Some  argument  then  arose  between  the  in- 
terested spectators  as  to  whether  the  episode 
they  had  just  been  regarding  should  be  de- 
scribed as  a  man  dismounting  from  or  a  man 
falling  off  his  horse.  The  cowboy  sought  to 
dispel  all  doubt  on  this  issue  by  maintaining, 
with  typical  profanity,  that  he  merely  figured 
it  desirable  to  dismount.  Personally,  I  think 
the  cowboy  was  right,  only  I  would  call  it  dis- 
mounting under  pressure. 

18 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R 


CHAPTER  II. 

Balance— How  to  keep  it — Experience  with  backing  horses — 
Correct  length  of  stirrup — Grip — How  it  counteracts  inertia — 
European  cavalry  man's  experiment — Seat — 'What  it  means  in 
the  saddle— "The  End  of  the  Trail." 

Balance  depends  upon  the  proper  adjust- 
ment of  weight,  and  is  arrived  at  by  the  em- 
ployment of  stirrups,  seat  and  hands.  The 
reins  should  never  be  used  as  an  aid  to  balance. 
If  they  are  used  for  this  purpose  it  is  an  evi- 
dence of  very  bad  horsemanship.  Unfortu- 
nately, this  evidence  is  not  rare. 

The  reins  being  attached  to  the  bit,  if  pres- 
sure is  brought  upon  them,  for  any  purpose 
other  than  guiding  or  steadying  one's  mount, 
it  naturally  has  a  disorganizing  and  confusing 
effect  upon  the  horse;  also,  frequent  pressure 
in  this  way  has  a  tendency  to  make  the  ani- 
mars  mouth  less  sensitive,  and  upsets  the  gen- 
eral well-being  of  the  horse  when  in  use. 

From  a  standing  position,  if  the  horse  jumps 
forward,  balance  is  best  achieved  by  leaning 
the  weight  forward  at  the  moment  of  move- 
ment, with  the  legs  forcing  the  stirrups  in  the 
general  direction  of  the  horse's  tail,  and  at 
this  moment  by  pressure  in  the  stirrups  the 
rider's  body  is  held  forward  on  the  horse's 
back.  This  counteracts  the  tendency  of  the 
r'der  to  become  unseated  by  the  horse  jumping 
forward  from  under  him. 

19 


THE-:-       HORSE 

If  a  fast-moving  horse  stops  suddenly,  bal- 
ance is  best  maintained  by  either  a  knee  grip, 
with  the  stirrups  held  slightly  backward  by  the 
legs  and  the  weight  thrown  forward,  or  by  the 
rider's  body  being  held  well  backward  on  the 
back  of  the  horse  and  the  stirrups  held  forward 
by  the  legs,  at  the  same  time  receiving  the 
pressure  of  the  rider's  weight  which  would 
necessarily  prevent  his  body  coming  forward 
when  the  horse  stops. 

In  lateral  balance,  if  the  rider's  weight  is 
overbalanced  to  the  near  side  of  the  horse,  pres- 
sure is  put  against  the  left  stirrup,  which  has 
a  tendency  to  push  the  rider's  body  toward  the 
point  of  balance,  and  the  pressure  of  the  right 
leg,  which  is  in  a  forked  position  with  the  knee 
as  apex,  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  off  side  of 
the  horse's  body,  which  has  the  tendency  to 
pull  the  rider  back  in  place,  in  which  way  his 
balance  is  maintained.  Losing  his  balance  to- 
ward the  right  side,' it  would  naturally  follow 
that  the  above  principles  would  apply,  merely 
substituting  right  for  left. 

In  difficult  or  unexpected  moments,  an  aid 
to  balance  may  be  had  by  placing  pressure 
against  the  horse's  neck  with  the  hand  or 
hands. 

Rough  riding  on  a  ranch  is  one  of  the  quick- 
est ways  of  learning  balance.  The  discomfort 
occasioned  by  falling  from  a  half-broken  mus- 
tang is  a  big  incentive  to  the  rider  to  let  his 

20 


THE       -AHORSE 

thoughts  dwell  on  the  best  way  of  maintaining 
equilibrium.  In  this  case  proper  length  of 
stirrups  plays  an  important  part.  The  practice 
of  using  very  short  stirrups  is  indicative  of 
the  rider  depending  more  upon  balance  than 
upon  grip,  or,  in  other  words,  allowing  a 
greater  scope  for  the  employment  of  balance, 
since,  by  the  judicious  use  of  short  stirrups 
the  rider  may  lean  farther  from  the  horse  and 
maintain  his  balance. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  most  expert  horse- 
men ride  more  by  grip  than  balance. 

At  the  beginning  of  my  riding  experience 
on  a  ranch  I  started  to  use  very  long  stirrups, 
so  that  when  seated  in  the  saddle  my  legs  were 
nearly  straight,  with  but  the  toes  of  my  boots 
touching  the  stirrups.  The  first  bucking  horse 
I  mounted  threw  me  with  great  rapidity  over 
his  head.  I  realized,  when  thinking  over  the 
matter,  that  I  had  lost  my  stirrups  first  and 
my  balance  shortly' afterwards,  so  I  took  up 
the  stirrups  of  the  saddle  one  hole  before  rid- 
ing the  next  bucking  horse.  I  was  once  more, 
without  delay,  precipitated  over  the  animal's 
head.  Again  I  noticed  that  I  had  lost  my  stir- 
rups immediately. 

After  about  eight  of  these  unpleasant  experi- 
ences my  stirrups  were  considerably  shorter 
than  at  the  outset.  Subsequently,  though  I  was 
sometimes  bucked  over  the  head  of  a  particu- 
larly rough-going  horse,  I  invariably  lost  my 

21 


THE-:-       HORSE 

seat  before  my  stirrups,  which  proved  that  I 
had  finally  succeeded  in  bringing  the  stirrups 
to  the  proper  length,  at  least  for  my  individual 
requirements.  This  is  not  a  pleasant  method 
to  be  followed  in  order  to  determine  what  the 
length  of  one's  stirrups  should  be,  since  most 
persons  of  less  optimism  would  become  dis- 
couraged before  they  found  the  proper  length. 

The  correct  length  of  the  stirrups  for  any 
rider,  in  real  action,  is  that  length  which  would 
permit  his  boots  to  rest  in  the  stirrups  with 
average  pressure  if  his  legs  were  bent  to  the 
natural  position  that  would  be  assumed  by 
that  rider  in  clinging  to  a  fast-turning  horse 
bareback. 

When  at  rest  or  at  the  steady  paces  of  a 
horse,  a  longer  stirrup  is  usually  found  more 
comfortable,  and  with  a  longer  stirrup  the 
rider  unquestionably  makes  a  better  appear- 
ance. 

Grip. — Broadly  speaking,  grip  is  a  pulling 
force  which,  when  applied  by  a  rider,  assists 
in  keeping  him  and  the  saddle  together.  Tak- 
ing hurdles  or  riding  a  fractious  horse  requires 
particularly  the  application  of  grip.  The  chief 
factors  in  its  application  are  the  heel,  leg,  knee 
and  thigh.  If  the  horse  catapults  from  the 
ground,  whether  to  clear  some  obstacle  or 
owing  to  the  exuberance  of  spirits,  it  is  neces- 
sary for  the  rider  to  cease  the  upward  move- 
ment simultaneously  with  the  horse  and  to 

22 


THE-:-       HORSE 

descend  firmly  seated  upon  his  back  in  order 
to  avoid  receiving  a  very  unpleasant  jolt  in  a 
sitting  position. 

When  the  horse  has  reached  in  the  air  that 
theoretically  stationary  moment  before  his  re- 
turn to  earth,  grip  is  most  necessary  to  the 
rider.  The  force  that  has  carried  the  rider 
upward,  suddenly  is  taken  away,  and  the  ten- 
dency of  the  rider  would  be  to  continue  up- 
ward until  gravity  counteracts  inertia.  Grip 
applied  at  this  moment,  with  sufficient  force, 
has  the  desired  result  and  makes  possible  a 
uniform  return  with  the  horse  to  the  ground. 

The  kind  of  grip  most  effective,  needless  to 
say,  depends  entirely  upon  the  physical  attrib- 
utes of  the  rider. 

A  foreign  cavalry  man  paid  me  a  visit  once 
at  Stockdale  Ranch.  He  examined  the  Mexi- 
can saddles  with  interest,  having  never  pre- 
viously seen  equipment  of  this  kind,  and  was 
particularly  pleased  with  the  horn.  He  ven- 
tured the  opinion  that  by  the  judicious  use  of 
this  instrument  for  a  handhold  he  could  not  be 
thrown  off. 

A  horse  was  led  out,  which  was  able,  with 
provocation,  to  buck.  I  made  a  noose  with  my 
riata  around  the  animal's  flanks,  and  the 
officer,  having  seated  himself  upon  the  animal, 
firmly  grasped  the  horn  with  both  hands,  with- 
out troubling  himself  about  the  reins.  On  be- 
ing informed  all  was  in  order,  I  pulled  the  rope 

23 


THE-:-       HORSE 

and  the  horse  leapt  into  the  air  with  one 
terrific  buck.  The  soldier  held  firmly  to  the 
horn  of  the  saddle,  but  the  rest  of  his  body 
continued  upward  until  he  had  assumed  the 
position  of  standing  on  his  head  above  the 
horn  of  the  saddle.  As  the  horse  rose  from 
the  ground  a  second  time  the  officer's  body 
toppled  and  meeting  the  neck  of  the  horse 
with  his  own  back,  his  hands  were  pried  loose 
and  he  was  left  in  a  heap  on  the  ground ;  which 
helps  to  prove  that  grip,  no  matter  how  firmly 
taken,  can  be  an  entirely  minus  quantity  un- 
less it  is  had  in  conjunction  with  a  proper 
balance 

Seat. — A  seat,  when  spoken  of  in  regard  to 
a  mounted  person,  is  an  expression  of  a  rather 
intangible  character.  A  good  seat,  however, 
is  a  matter  of  fundamental  importance  in 
horsemanship.  To  a  rider,  a  seat  kept  or  lost 
is  as  important  as  a  battle  won  or  lost  to 
a  general. 

Innumerable  positions  can  be  assumed  upon 
the  back  of  a  horse,  but  these  positions  all  de- 
pend upon  the  correct  appliance  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  balance  and  grip,  founded  upon  an  in- 
telligent knowledge  and  anticipation  of  the 
movements  of  a  horse. 

A  seat  when  partially  lost  is  difficult  to  re- 
gain. It  is  easier  to  keep  a  perfect  seat  all  the 
time  than  to  lose  one's  balance  and  regain  it 
later.  The  personal  equation  enters  largely 

24 


THE-:-       HORSE 

into  the  correct  seat  of  an  individual,  and  the 
rider's  individuality  is  more  strongly  demon- 
strated by  the  seat  than  in  any  other  way. 

The  average  natural  seat  is  depicted  in  a 
marvelous  manner  by  the  silhouettes  of  the 
famous  warriors  of  the  Horse  Indians,  such  as 
Sioux  and  Comanche,  which  have  been  given 
to  us  by  observation  or  by  the  paintings  of 
Remington  and  his  contemporaries. 

A  statue  by  James  Earle  Eraser,  "The  End 
of  the  Trail,"  depicts  an  Amerind,  the  last  of 
his  tribe,  exhausted  at  the  completion  of  a 
terrible  ride,  still  seated  upon  his  jaded  horse, 
with  nothing  further  to  look  forward  to,  and 
with  weary  miles  of  trial  and  hardship  behind, 
the  lines  of  his  natural  grace  giving  evidence 
of  a  perfect  seat,  which  alone  made  it  possible 
for  horse  and  man  to  have  in  reality  reached 
"The  End  of  the  Trail." 


25 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


CHAPTER  III. 

How  the  rider  controls  his  horse — Bits,  and  how  they  work — 
The  Martingale— Spurs — Whips — Balance— How  to  start  and 
stop  a  horse — How  to  make  a  horse  slide — Backing  a  horse—- 
Changing direction — Changing  leads  at  a  gallop — Teaching 
the  horse  to  trot  and  to  walk — Riding  without  reins. 

Control.  —  The  four  principal  factors 
through  which  the  rider  maintains  control 
over  his  mount  are  the  reins,  whip,  spurs  and 
balance. 

Bits. — The  two  basic  principles  of  practi- 
cally all  bits  are  snaffle  pull  and  shank 
leverage.  A  snaffle  is  a  bar  bit  broken  in 

tV 

the  middle,  held  up  in  the  mouth  by  the 
headpiece  and  prevented  from  being  pulled 
from  the  side  of  the  mouth  by  the  chinstrap. 
The  force  of  the  bit  applied  in  this  way, 
for  the  purpose  of  control,  is  the  pressure 
of  the  broken  bar  on  the  tongue  and  the 
lower  jaw.  The  leverage  bit — for  example, 
the  Pelham — controls  the  horse  by  the  up- 
ward pressure  of  the  chinstrap  and  the 
downward  pull  of  the  straight  mouthpiece, 
which,  when  force  is  exerted,  has  the  tend- 
ency to  hold  the  lower  jaw  in  a  kind  of 
vise,  and  the  back  pressure  of  the  reins  has  a 
deterrent  effect  and  a  tendency  to  hold  the 
horse  back.  The  severity  of  this  kind  of  a  bit 
depends  especially  upon  the  ratio  between  the 
length  of  that  part  of  the  shank  extending 

26 


THE-:-       HORSE 

from  the  mouthpiece  to  the  rein  inception  ring 
and  the  length  of  the  part  from  the  mouth- 
piece to  the  curbstrap  ring. 

The  first  part  of  this  ratio  we  shall  call  "A" 
and  the  second  part  "B."  It  will  easily  be 
understood  that  the  difference  between  the 
length  of  "A"  and  "B,"  if  "A"  is  the  greater, 
will  determine  the  severity  of  the  bit.  In 
other  words,  the  greater  the  length  of  "A"  as 
compared  to  "B,"  the  greater  the  severity  of 
the  bit. 

These  principles  we  have  just  considered  are 
the  most  important  in  regard  to  all  bits. 

Port,  Spade  and  Ring  bits  are  primarily  de- 
pendent upon  the  above  principles,  and  added 
to  them  have  their  specific  values,  such  as,  in 
the  case  of  a  Spade,  prying  the  horse's  mouth 
open  as  well  as  exerting  the  forces  already  dis- 
cussed. 

The  bit  I  like  best  for  general  use  is  the 
double-reined  Pelham.  It  is  not  as  cumber- 
some as  the  bit  and  bridoon,  but  it  practically 
combines  the  forces  of  the  snafHe  and  leverage 
bits. 

Some  horses  with  sensitive  mouths  need 
only  the  pressure  of  the  snaffle  on  ordinary 
occasions.  If,  however,  it  is  desired  to  secure 
instant  control  of  a  horse  that  is  in  an  excited 
condition,  the  leverage  bit  may  be  used  to  ad- 
vantage, either  alone  or  in  conjunction  with 
the  snaffle.  For  a  hard-mouthed  horse,  a  suit- 

27 


THE-:-       HORSE 

able  bit  should  have  "A,"  the  length  of  the 
shank  from  the  mouthpiece  to  the  rein  incep- 
tion ring,  at  least  twice  that  of  "B,"  the  length 
from  the  mouthpiece  to  the  curbstrap  ring. 

Martingale. — A  martingale  consists  of  a 
nose  band,  a  breast  band  and  a  strap  from 
the  nosepiece  to  the  cinch.  This  is  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  the  horse  from  throwing 
his  head,  and,  if  properly  adjusted,  has  the 
tendency  to  keep  the  horse's  head  in  the  best 
position  for  control.  The  reins  should  be  at- 
tached at  the  ends  and  be  of  such  a  length 
that  when  the  ends  are  permitted  to  rest  on 
the  horse's  withers,  there  will  be  enough  slack 
between  the  ends  and  the  bit  to  allow  the 
horse  perfect  freedom  of  head. 

Spurs. — I  believe  it  is  unnecessary  to  have 
spurs  with  sharp  points.  I  think  the  most 
useful  English  spur  is  the  kind  that  has  a 
rather  long  shank  and  no  rowel,  while  the  best 
Mexican  spur  should  have  a  long  hook  and 
blunt  rowels. 

Whip. — As  to  the  whip,  a  stiff  crop,  or  a 
rawhide  quirt,  seems  each  to  be  the  best  in  its 
respective  line. 

Balance. — A  perfect  balance  tends  to  keep 

the  stride  of  the  horse  in  better  rhythm,  also  to 

. 

keep  his  pace  uniform,  and  assists  him  to 
change  leads  when  desired.  If  the  weight  of 
the  rider  is  thrown  to  one  side  of  the  horse  it 
necessarily  follows  that  the  animal's  inclina- 

28 


THE-:-       HORSE 

tion  will  be  to  give  to  that  side,  in  order  to 
bring  into  balance  the  weight  of  the  rider. 

Starting. — From  a  standing  position,  to 
start  a  horse  forward  lean  slightly  forward  in 
the  saddle,  loosen  the  reins  and  bring  the  heels 
in  under  the  horse's  flanks,  letting  him  feel 
the  spur  if  necessary. 

Stopping.- -To  stop  a  horse  progressing  at 
an  easy  pace,  give  a  gentle  pressure  on  his 
mouth,  leaning  a  little  back  in  the  saddle,  and 
increasing  the  pressure  so  that  the  desired  re- 
sult is  obtained.  If  the  horse  is  difficult  to 
stop,  instead  of  a  steady  pressure,  catch  him 
in  short  jerks,  so  that  pressure  on  his  mouth 
is  brought  when  he  is  off  balance,  and  in  this 
way  he  is  more  apt  to  decrease  his  pace  in 
order  to  regain  his  balance. 

Sliding. — Sliding  is  a  big  asset  in  horses 
that  are  required  to  stop  and  turn  at  excessive 
speed,  such  as  cow  horses  and  polo  ponies. 
All  well-broken  cow  horses  slide.  This  is  the 
quickest  way  of  coming  to  a  standstill  from 
a  fast  gallop.  The  hind  legs  are  the  chief  fac- 
tors used  in  sliding.  When  done  properly,  the 
horse's  position  in  sliding  is  one  where  the 
forelegs  are  extended  forward  and  are  used 
chiefly  for  balance,  while  the  hind  legs  are 
brought  well  up  under  the  body,  supporting 
practically  all  his  weight.  A  good  sliding 
horse,  when  stopped  suddenly  from  a  fast  gal- 
lop on  a  slippery  or  fairly  hard  piece  of  ground, 

29 


THE-:-       HORSE 

can  be  made  to  slide  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  be- 
fore his  forward  motion  ceases. 

To  slide  a  well-broken  horse  from  a  gallop 
he  must  be  caught  on  his  stride  at  the  moment 
his  forehand  leaves  the  ground,  because  at 
this  time  his  hind  legs  are  well  under  him,  and 
will  have  the  tendency  to  continue  there  if  con- 
comitantly  a  firm  pull  on  the  animal's  mouth 
is  taken  and  held. 

A  horse  extended  at  top  speed  can  never  be 
made  to  slide  until  he  is  pulled  down  to  a 
slower  pace.  Before  the  final  pull  is  given,  the 
horse's  mouth  should  receive  several  checks 
from  the  rein  in  order  to  prepare  him  for  the 
final  stiff  pull. 

Backing. — In  order  to  back  a  horse,  from  a 
standing  position  the  rider  brings  pressure  on 
the  bit,  keeping  the  reins  tight  along  the  neck, 
and  the  animal,  if  taught  properly,  will  begin 
to  back.  When  it  is  desired  to  cease  backing, 
it  is  often  a  good  plan  to  jump  the  horse  for- 
ward before  he  realizes  he  has  actually  ceased 
his  backward  motion;  because  the  horse  that 
is  accustomed  to  jump  forward  immediately 
after  a  backward  motion  is  not  so  apt  to  want 
to  stop  backing,  on  account  of  the  subsequent 
greater  exertion  of  having  to  jump  forward 
with  which  it  is  associated  in  his  mind. 

To  teach  a  horse  to  back,  when  the  horse  is 
standing  and  the  rider  dismounted,  the  rider 
should  tap  the  horse  on  the  front  part  of  his 

so 


THE-:-       HORSE 

more  advanced  foreleg  with  the  riding  crop, 
and  at  the  same  time  taking  the  reins  with  one 
hand  the  rider  should  give  a  pressure  back- 
ward, preferably  with  little  jerks,  so  that  he 
will  not  try  to  pull  against  the  bit,  which  he 
might  do  if  an  even  pressure  were  applied. 

Changing  Direction. — To  change  direction 
to  the  right,  a  little  extra  pressure  should  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  right  rein,  with  one 
or  two  almost  imperceptible  jerks  to  bring 
the  horse's  head  in  the  direction  in  which  it  is 
desired  to  go,  and  a  firm  pressure  should  be 
maintained  on  the  right  rein,  which  has  the 
tendency  to  pull  the  horse's  head  to  the  right, 
and  the  right  rein  should  be  a  little  shorter 
than  the  left.  The  left  rein  is  brought  to  bear 
its  pressure  on  the  near  side  of  the  horse's 
neck.  In  this  way  the  average  saddle  horse 
can  be  made  to  turn  to  the  right. 

To  go  in  the  opposite  direction,  the  same 
system  of  control  applies,  but  inversely. 

Changing  Leads  at  a  Gallop. — In  changing 
leads  at  a  gallop,  to  turn  to  the  right,  the 
horse,  if  not  leading  to  the  right,  should  be 
made  to  do  so,  because  only  in  this  way  will 
he  be  able  to  make  a  perfect  turn.  In  leading 
to  the  right  at  a  gallop  the  horse's  right  leg 
makes  a  longer  stride,  and  when  the  two  fore- 
legs strike,  or  nearly  strike  the  ground,  the 
leg  on  which  he  leads  is  always  in  front.  The 
horse  in  leading  right,  since  he  keeps  his  left 

31 


THE-:-       HORSE 

foreleg  more  under  him,  shoves  away  toward 
the  right  with  greater  ease.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  he  tries  to  turn  left  when  leading 
right,  it  will  easily  be  seen  that  with  his  right 
foreleg  advanced  his  scope  for  side  pressure 
would  not  be  so  great,  since  his  foreleg,  al- 
ready extended  to  the  extreme  front,  would 
necessarily  find  difficulty  in  extending  itself 
also  to  the  side. 

A  horse  suddenly  thrown  off  balance,  from 
the  left  toward  the  right,  will  generally  re- 
gain his  balance  with  a  right-foot  lead,  because 
a  right  lead  in  this  case  will  have  the  tendency 
to  keep  the  horse  in  better  balance  by  allow- 
ing him  to  continue  right  with  greater  ease. 
For  a  left  turn,  it  would  follow  that  the  horse 
would  only  make  a  correct  turn  in  this  direc- 
tion when  leading  on  the  left  leg.  The  horse's 
hind  legs,  to  make  a  perfect  turn,  should  lead 
right  or  left,  following  the  example  of  the  fore- 
legs. 

When  going  at  a  gallop,  to  change  to  a  trot 
with  a  horse  properly  broken,  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  pull  him  to  a  very  slow  gallop,  so  that 
the  horse  is  practically  forced  to  change  to  a 
slower  gait.  Then  it  will  not  be  difficult  to 
gain  a  faster  trot  by  allowing  him  to  accelerate 
speed  in  this  gait.  A  kind  of  inertia  will  make 
the  horse  more  inclined  to  continue  in  the  trot 
once  he  has  begun. 

To  make  a  horse  walk  from  a  slow  trot,  if 

32 


THE-:-       HORSE 

he  shows  a  disinclination  to  walk,  he  must  be 
held  at  an  extremely  slow  pace,  so  that  he  is 
hardly  able  to  move  forward,  and  if  patience 
and  perseverance  are  maintained  and  this  very 
slow  pace  continued  long  enough  he  will 
eventually  walk.  When  walking  he  can  be 
allowed  to  accelerate  the  walking  gait,  taking 
advantage  of  the  same  inertia  mentioned  in 
regard  to  trotting. 

Riding  Without  Reins. — Many  well-broken 
horses  can  be  ridden  without  reins  and  be 
controlled  to  a  certain  extent.  Balance  to 
the  respective  sides  will  of  itself  make  such 
a  horse  turn  right  or  left.  Suddenly  leaning 
forward,  throwing  the  weight  to  the  fore 
part  of  the  horse,  will  give  him  the  tendency 
to  stop.  Some  horses  will  make  a  beautiful 
performance  if  for  control  nothing  but  a  rope 
is  placed  around  their  neck,  and  the  horse 
will  answer  the  pull  of  this  rope  very 
much  in  the  same  manner  as  he  would  the 
pull  of  the  bit.  To  make  a  horse  stop  and 
turn  with  a  rope  around  his  neck,  jerk  him 
until  he  responds,  being  careful  to  take  no 
steady  pull.  To  use  this  method  effectively, 
slip  the  rope  up  the  horse's  neck  toward  his 
head.  Since  the  throat  is  the  most  sensitive 
part  of  the  neck,  he  will  respond  more 
quickly  to  pressure  applied  at  this  point. 
High-school  horses  are  often  controlled  by 
the  whip  and  made  to  stop  and  turn  in  this 
manner. 

33 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Reining  a  horse — Use  of  different  bits — How  his  mouth  is 
made — The  natural  gaits — The  walk,  the  trot  and  the  can- 
ter— Natural  gaits  more  useful  than  acquired  gaits — Popularity 
of  five-gaited  horses  for  show  purposes — Jumping  and  swim- 
ming. 

Reining  a  Horse. — There  are  many  effect- 
ive methods  of  reining  a  horse.  I  shall  try 
to  describe  one  of  these,  which  I  consider 
involves  the  principles  pertaining  to  all.  In- 
cidentally, for  general  purposes,  I  consider  it 
the  best. 

A  horse  should  first  be  properly  halter- 
broken.  Halter  breaking  is  easily  accom- 
plished, and  is  largely  done  by  merely  tying 
the  horse  by  the  halter  to  some  stationary 
object,  so  that  no  matter  how  much  he  strug- 
gles he  cannot  break  loose.  After  a  time 
the  horse  learns  to  keep  his  head  toward  this 
object  or  to  the  manger  of  the  stall,  as  the 
case  may  be.  When  the  first  attempt  to 
lead  a  horse  is  made  he  will  probably  try  to 
run  away.  A  man  can  usually  maneuver  so 
that  the  animal  will  be  running  at  right 
angles  to  him,  from  which  position  a  strong 
pull  on  the  part  of  the  man  will  usually  jerk 
the  horse's  head  around  and  end  in  pulling 
him  to  a  standstill.  When  the  horse  finally 
gives  up  his  idea  of  trying  to  break  away, 
and  allows  himself  to  be  led  around,  he  is 
halter-broken. 

34 


THE-:-       HORSE 

A  person  standing  in  front  of  a  horse  and 
trying  to  pull  him  forward,  against  his  will, 
will  be  quite  unsuccessful.  A  horse  standing 
still,  not  wishing  to  move,  should  be  pulled 
from  the  side  so  that  his  neck  will  be  bent 
around  by  the  pull  and  he  will  have  the  tend- 
ency to  move  his  legs  in  order  to  straighten 
his  body  in  a  line  with  his  neck  to  keep  his 
balance.  This  procedure  will  make  the  horse 
move  a  step  or  two  in  the  direction  desired. 
A  helper  with  a  whip,  to  urge  the  horse  for- 
ward when  he  is  pulled  on  the  halter,  facili- 
tates matters  a  great  deal. 

The  horse,  having  been  halter-broken,  has 
some  idea  of  being  pulled  around,  and  for 
the  first  ride  or  two  on  a  raw  colt  a  snaffle 
bit  should  be  used.  He  should  then  be  ridden 
in  some  kind  of  an  inclosed  place,  so  that 
he  may  have  the  minimum  opportunity  for 
running  away.  He  can  then  be  pulled  a  little 
on  one  rein  until  his  head  comes  around  and 
his  body  will  be  inclined  to  follow.  This 
pulling  should  be  done  a  little,  alternately, 
on  both  reins.  Pulling  in  this  way  and  the 
use  of  the  snaffle  bit  will  probably  make  the 
animal's  mouth  sore. 

After  one  or  two  lessons  of  this  sort, 
which  should  not  last  more  than  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes,  a  hackamore,  instead  of  a 
bridle,  should  be  placed  on  the  horse. 

A  hackamore  is  a  kind  of  rawhide  halter, 

35 


THE-:-       HORSE 

with  the  nosepiece  very  low  and  taut  around 
the  animal's  nose.  The  horse  should  now  be 
one-reined.  If,  for  example,  he  is  to  be 
turned  right,  a  firm  pull  should  be  taken  on 
the  right  rein  and  the  left  rein  rubbed 
against  the  near  side  of  his  neck.  After  a 
period  that  naturally  varies  with  the  apti- 
tude of  the  horse,  the  animal  when  turning 
to  the  right  will  respond  to  the  feel  of  the 
left  rein  on  his  neck,  and  a  much  greater 
pull  on  the  right  rein  will  not  be  necessary 
in  order  to  make  him  turn  in  this  direction. 

To  rein  to  the  left,  the  same  principles  are 
applied  inversely. 

A  horse  is  generally  used  in  a  hackamore 
for  about  a  year,  and  then  he  is  double- 
reined  for  another  year.  Double-reining 
consists  in  putting  a  Spanish  bit  bridle  over 
the  hackamore  and  allowing  the  animal  to 
carry  the  spade  bit  in  his  mouth  for  this 
length  of  time.  During  this  period,  how- 
ever, he  is  controlled  almost  entirely  by  the 
hackamore,  and  merely  allowed  to  carry  the 
bit  in  his  mouth  in  order  to  become  used 
to  it  and  play  with  the  wheel  at  the  fore 
part  of  the  spade,  which  has  the  tendency  to 
keep  his  mouth  wet.* 

The  horse  by  this  time  should  be  com- 
pletely bridlewise  to  the  hackamore  and  by 

Note. — See  page  S3  on  the  subject  "Polo." 

36 


THE       -:-       HORSE 

degrees  this  knowledge  can  be  transferred 
to  the  spade  bit,  so  that  he  will  stop  and  turn 
by  a  pull  on  this  bit  and  the  feel  of  the 
reins  on  his  neck.  To  teach  a  horse  to  stop 
properly  is  discussed  in  "Sliding." 

A  quick  way  to  rein  a  horse  is  to  reverse 
this  process,  using  the  hackamore  for  the  first 
few  rides  and  then  a  snaffle  bit  for  about  a 
year,  and  when  the  horse  is  bridlewise  to  the 
snaffle  a  light  Pelham  may  be  used,  and  by  that 
time  the  horse's  mouth  will  be  practically 
made. 

To  use  a  hackamore  successfully,  never 
keep  a  steady  pressure  on  the  horse's  nose; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  slight  feel  of  the 
bit  at  times  may  be  maintained. 

Gaits. — The  ordinary  horse  has  three  gaits : 
the  walk,  the  trot  and  the  canter.  Such  a 
horse  is  called  three-gaited  or  square-gaited, 
and  these  are  the  natural  gaits  of  a  horse.  A 
running  walk,  single-foot,  rack,  which  approx- 
imates a  fast  single-foot,  foxtrot,  and  pace 
are  so-called  artificial  gaits.  In  some  in- 
stances they  are  natural  to  the  horse,  espe- 
cially the  pace. 

A  square-gaited  horse  is  generally  better 
for  mountain  use  or  when  working  over 
rough  country,  because  he  carries  his  legs 
higher  from  the  ground  than  the  animal  that 
single-foots  or  paces.  Also  a  square-gaited 
horse  is  apt  to  be  more  agile  on  its  legs  than 

37 


THE-:-       HORSE 

the  artificially  gaited  animal,  because  the 
three  natural  gaits  are  more  readily  adjusted 
to  quick  turning  and  starting  than  are  the 
artificial  ones. 

There  are  contrivances,  such  as  lateral 
biped  straps,  for  the  pacer,  and  also  methods 
of  training  by  which  almost  any  horse  can  be 
made  to  perform  one  of  these  artificial  gaits. 
Urging  a  horse  faster  than  a  walk  and  the 
constant  restraint  from  a  trot,  if  persisted 
in,  will  probably  make  the  horse  so  shuffle 
up  his  legs  that  he  will  find  himself  perform- 
ing the  shuffle  or  single-foot. 

Five-gaited  horses  are  used  to  a  great  ex- 
tent for  park  hacks  and  always  find  a  popu- 
lar place  in  the  Horse  Show.  The  five-gaited 
horse  generally  walks,  foxtrots,  trots,  racks 
and  canters. 

Jumping. — A  jumper  taking  an  obstacle 
leaves  the  ground  with  his  forefeet  first  and 
returns  to  the  ground  in  the  same  order. 
There  are  three  kinds  of  jumping  horses: 
the  horse  that  takes  the  jumps  from  a  very 
slow  speed,  walking  or  trotting;  the  horse 
that  takes  the  jumps  at  an  average  speed; 
and  the  horse  that  rushes  the  jumps.  The 
slow-speed  jumper  rears  on  his  hind  legs 
and  catapults  into  the  air.  This  is  usually  the 
type  of  jumper  that  can  clear  the  greatest 
height.  The  rusher  is  the  type  that  can 
make  the  greatest  broad  jump.  The  type 

38 


T'HE-:-       HORSE 

that  takes  a  jump  from  a  moderate  gallop  is 
the  most  common  and  the  most  generally 
useful. 

A  good  jumper  must  be  a  good  judge  of 
distance,  since  the  take-off  is  of  vital  im- 
portance. If  a  four-foot  hurdle  is  to  be 
cleared,  a  jumper  of  the  common  type  should 
take-off  at  about  three  feet  from  the  obstacle. 

The  rider  in  taking  a  jump,  riding  a  horse 
of  the  kind  we  are  discussing,  should,  as  he 
approaches  the  obstacle  at  a  moderate  pace, 
accelerate  his  speed,  gather  the  reins  under 
him,  lean  slightly  forward,  and  a  moment 
before  the  take-off  urge  the  horse  with  extra 
pressure  of  the  knees  or  heels,  being  careful 
to  avoid  taking  any  stiff  pressure  on  the  ani- 
mal's mouth. 

The  horse  rises  in  front  and  finally  leaves 
the  ground  with  his  hind  legs,  gains  the 
maximum  height,  is  carried  by  the  force  of 
the  impetus  over  the  obstacle,  and  descends 
with  his  fore  hand  first. 

The  rider's  body  should  be  thrown  back 
and  a  firm  pressure  on  the  reins  taken  in 
order  that  the  horse  may  be  steadied  when 
alighting.  Upon  the  consummation  of  the 
jump,  however,  the  reins  should  be  loosened 
at  once,  in  order  that  the  horse  will  not  ac- 
quire the  idea  of  being  pulled  up  immedi- 
ately he  has  taken  the  hurdle. 

39 


THE-:-       HORSE 

Swimming. — All  horses  are  able  to  swim 
after  a  fashion.  A  horse  that  swims  badly 
will  probably  only  succeed  in  keeping  his 
head  above  the  water  for  a  few  minutes,  pro- 
vided there  is  no  weight  on  his  back;  while  a 
horse  that  is  a  really  good  swimmer  can  nego- 
tiate a  current  in  which  no  man  could  live. 
Such  a  horse  can  swim  several  miles  with  ease 
and  keep  his  head  above  water  as  long  as  his 
strength  lasts. 

In  crossing  a  river  of  considerable  volume 
and  swift  current,  in  circumstances  that  jus- 
tify a  reasonable  doubt  that  the  horse  will 
be  the  victor,  unless  every  assistance  is  given 
him  by  the  rider,  the  best  way  when  starting 
to  swim  is  for  the  rider  to  dismount  on  the 
near  side,  holding  the  reins,  and  guiding  the 
direction  of  the  horse  with  his  left  hand, 
while  holding  on  to  the  pommel  of  the  saddle 
with  his  right.  The  weight  of  the  rider  will 
be  carried  by  the  water,  and  in  this  way  will 
not  act  as  an  extra  burden  to  the  horse  and 
impede  his  action.  Care  must  be  taken,  if 
the  current  is  strong  and  the  river  has  to  be 
crossed,  to  keep  the  horse's  head  upstream 
at  an  angle  of  approximately  forty-five  de- 
grees, because  a  horse  carried  head-first 
downstream  by  a  swift  current  will  have 
great  difficulty  in  ever  fronting  the  current 
from  that  position. 

When  a  dangerous  crossing  is  to  be  made, 

40 


THE-:-       HORSE 

try  and  conserve  the  animal's  strength  as 
much  as  possible,  so  that  at  a  crucial  moment, 
such  as  when  trying  to  make  a  projection  on 
the  opposite  bank  before  being  carried  past 
it,  whipping,  shouting  and  pulling  on  the 
reins  will  produce  the  maximum  effort  of 
which  the  animal  is  capable. 

It  is  a  common  idea  that  the  proper  way 
to  swim  a  horse,  in  any  body  of  water,  is  with 
the  rider  holding  on  by  the  animal's  tail. 
While  in  this  position,  however,  the  rider 
has  the  minimum  control  of  direction.  Off- 
setting this  disadvantage  is  the  fact  that  the 
horse  thus  maneuvered  cannot  kick  the  person 
holding  his  tail  until  he  reaches  shallow 
water. 


41 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


CHAPTER  V. 

Riding  up  and  down  hill  or  on  a  pavement — The  right  and 
wrong  ways  of  doing  so — Xenophon's  comments  about  ancient 
hill  riders — Opening  a  gate  when  on  horseback — Talking  to 
horses — Efficacy  of  a  well-spoken  word — The  art  of  falling 
off— How  best  to  escape  injury — A  midnight  runaway  and  a 
drop  in  the  darkness. 

Riding  a  Horse  Up  and  Down  Hill  and  in 
Other  Difficult  Places. — Consensus  of  opin- 
ion tells  us  that  it  is  always  detrimental  to 
the  constitution  of  a  horse  to  ride  him  rapid- 
ly up  or  down  hill,  on  a  pavement,  or,  in  fact, 
any  place  where  the  ground  is  hard. 

This  is  true  for  the  general  run  of  riders, 
and  indulgence  in  such  riding  would  un- 
doubtedly work  a  hardship  on  the  horse  so 
ridden.  But  let  us  now.  examine  in  exactly 
what  way  the  hardship  is  wrought. 

The  ordinary  unskilled  and  ignorant  horse- 
man, who  delights  in  running  his  horse  up 
hill,  will  probably  not  realize  when  the  horse 
is  winded,  and  will  continue  the  exercise 
until  the  horse's  wind  is  permanently  af- 
fected. The  same  person  riding  a  horse 
rapidly  down  hill,  will  probably  not  keep  the 
animal  under  him  collected,  and  some  time  on 
the  downward  slope  he  will  be  the  cause  of 
over-balancing  the  horse,  making  him  lose 
a  step,  or  strike  the  ground  with  an  excep- 
tionally hard  blow  with  his  hoof  in  an  effort 
to  regain  the  balance  lost. 

42 


THE       -:-       HORSE 

Riding  a  horse  in  this  way  has  undoubtedly 
a  detrimental  effect  upon  the  soundness  of 
the  animal's  legs  and  is  likely  to  cause  al- 
most any  kind  of  localized  hurt.  In  the 
same  way,  riding  a  horse  rapidly  on  a  very 
hard  or  slippery  piece  of  ground  will  usually 
cause  harm.  The  hurt  does  not  take  place 
merely  as  the  normal  consequence  of  riding 
him  on  this  kind  of  ground,  but  because  the 
horse  has  momentarily  lost  his  balance,  and 
in  an  effort  to  regain  it  has  strained  him- 
self; it  follows  that  the  average  rider  would 
do  well  to  refrain  from  this  kind  of  equita- 
tion. 

An  expert  horseman,  however,  may  do  all 
of  these  things  without  injuring  his  mount. 
He  instinctively  feels  the  position  of  the 
horse's  legs  under  him,  and,  with  his  aids 
to  control,  he  keeps  the  animal  at  all  times 
collected.  He  also  maintains  a  more  or  less 
uniform  gait,  which  has  the  tendency  to  keep 
the  horse  balanced  and  in  his  proper  stride. 

Hard  work  on  very  hard  ground  will  often 
make  the  horse's  legs  "stock  up,"  but  will 
rarely  do  any  real  injury.  The  tendons 
merely  fill  a  little.  If  the  horse  is  very  old,  it 
is  true  that  this  would  be  a  reason  for  him  to 
"go  sore."  The  problem  of  riding  down  hill 
was  not  overlooked  by  Xenophon,  whose 
views  on  this  subject,  written  twenty-three 
hundred  years  ago,  are  still  worth  quoting: 

43 


T       H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 

"To  make  him  (the  horse)  go  down  steep 
places,  we  must  begin  to  train  him  on  soft 
ground;  and  at  length,  when  he  is  accus- 
tomed to  this,  he  will  run  much  more  readily 
down  a  slope  than  up  it.  As  to  what  some 
people  fear,  that  horses  will  dislocate  their 
shoulders  in  being  ridden  down  steep  places, 
let  them  be  under  no  apprehension,  when 
they  are  told  that  the  Persians  and  the  Odry- 
sae  all  ride  as  fast  as  they  can  down  steep 
hills,  and  yet  have  horses  not  less  sound  than 
those  of  the  Greeks." 

In  the  ascent,  the  mane,  or  some  part  of 
the  horse's  equipment  that  is  attached  to  the 
neck  or  shoulder,  can  be  taken  hold  of  with 
advantage,  and  the  stirrups  pressed  back  to- 
ward the  tail  so  as  to  prevent  the  body  of  the 
rider  from  slipping  backward.  The  reins 
also  should  be  left  loose,  in  order  to  allow 
the  horse  to  have  free  use  of  his  head  and  to 
be  able  to  rush  a  piece  of  ground  so  steep 
that  the  forward  momentum  lost  for  a  mo- 
ment would  cause  the  horse  to  slip  back- 
ward. In  descending  a  steep  incline,  how- 
ever, the  reins  should  be  held  taut,  the  body 
of  the  rider  thrown  well  back  in  the  saddle, 
and  his  weight  put  as  much  as  possible  into 
the  stirrups.  In  this  way  the  horse  can  be 
steadied,  and  it  will  give  him  more  confi- 
dence in  keeping  his  balance. 


44 


THE-:-       HORSE 

Opening  and  Closing  Gates- -To  open  a 
gate  from  the  back  of  a  horse  that  is  not 
broken  to  this  maneuver  may  often  require 
a  great  deal  of  patience  on  the  part  of  the 
rider. 

Bring  the  horse  up  to  the  gate  and  urge 
him  with  the  heel  or  whip  until  he  is  stand- 
ing1 sideways  and  next  to  the  bolt.  When  he 
is  standing  in  this  way  care  should  be  taken 
to  make  no  sudden  movement  on  his  back. 
The  rider  should  then  lean  slowly  toward  the 
gate,  keeping  at  least  one  rein  taut.  When 
the  lock  is  open,  with  the  proper  aids,  move 
the  horse  toward  or  away  from  the  gate,  as 
the  case  may  be,  before  he,  of  his  own  ac- 
cord, moves. 

To  close  a  gate,  riding  the  horse  to  the 
new  position  of  the  gate  upon  its  hinge, 
swing  it  to,  and  follow  quickly  with  him  to 
the  closed  position  of  the  gate.  If  the  gate 
swings  back  toward  the  horse,  and  the  horse 
shies  back  from  the  gate,  this  procedure  will 
have  to  be  continued  until  the  animal  will 
advance  quickly  toward  the  closed  position 
of  the  gate  and  stand  without  moving,  even 
though  the  gate  may  swing  back  against  him. 
In  this  way  the  gate  can  be  closed. 

Talking  to  a  Horse. — Some  horses  are 
peculiarly  susceptible  to  sound,  and  at  a  crisis, 
or  at  a  time  when  it  is  desired  that  every  fac- 
ulty and  every  muscle  of  the  horse  should 

45 


T       H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 

strain  to  do  its  utmost,  a  word  in  a  firm  reas- 
suring tone  will  often  elicit  a  response  that  in 
no  other  way  could  be  obtained.  A  word  at 
the  wrong  time  will  often  have  the  opposite 
effect  and  be  disconcerting. 

A  horse  going  to  a  high  jump  about  to  take 
off,  if  spoken  to  at  the  wrong  moment,  is  likely 
to  become  confused,  and  make  a  worse  per- 
formance than  if  no  word  had  been  spoken. 

Many  horses  are  made  to  obey  words.  If, 
for  example,  "Get  up"  is  said,  accompanied 
with  a  loose  rein,  the  pressure  of  the  heel,  or 
a  rap  of  the  whip,  and  this  is  done  often 
enough,  the  horse  will  learn  to  move  forward 
to  avoid  the  rap  which  he  expects  to  receive, 
and  in  the  same  manner  if  "Whoa"  is  said 
invariably  before  pulling  on  the  reins,  to  stop, 
the  horse,  at  the  time  associating  "Whoa"  with 
the  pull  of  the  reins,  will  stop  before  he  feels 
the  pull  which  he  expects,  and  thus  seek  to 
avoid  the  pressure  on  his  mouth. 

Falling  Off. — There  are  times  when  it  is 
wise  to  fall  from  the  back  of  a  horse,  but 
more  frequently  a  fall  is  forced  upon  a  rider 
by  the  mistake  of  his  horse.  The  use  of  short 
stirrups  is  of  great  assistance  in  enabling  a 
rider  to  throw  himself,  without  injury,  from 
a  falling  horse,  because  the  rider,  if  adept,  can 
jump  from  such  stirrups  and  fling  himself  out 
of  reach  of  the  horse's  falling  body.  Since  the 
knees  have  to  be  bent  to  jump,  it  can  easily  be 

46 


THE-:-       HORSE 

seen  that  long  stirrups  would  be  disadvanta- 
geous to  a  rider  in  such  circumstances. 

Most  persons,  who  give  the  matter  consid- 
eration at  all,  prefer  to  fall  from  the  left  side 
of  a  horse,  since  it  gives  greater  scope  for 
agility. 

The  most  important  principle  to  be  observed 
in  falling  from  a  horse  with  the  minimum  risk 
of  injury  to  the  rider,  is  that  of  allowing  one's 
muscles  to  relax,  and  rolling  as  far  as  possible, 
either  as  a  result  of  the  impetus  given  to  the 
rider  by  the  animal,  or  by  the  use  of  the  rider's 
own  energy.  If  possible,  the  rider  should  let 
himself  slip  down  slowly  at  first,  until  his 
body  is  near  the  ground,  and  then  throw  him- 
self with  all  his  force  for  the  purpose  of  rolling. 
In  this  way  injury  from  the  horse's  hoofs  or 
falling  body  can  best  be  avoided. 

If  the  horse  falls  over  backward,  the  rider 
should  jump  forward  on  the  left  side  from  his 
near  stirrup  at  the  moment  of  the  horse  irrevo- 
cably losing  its  balance.  If  the  horse  falls  on 
his  head,  the  rider,  without  resistance,  should 
allow  himself  to  be  projected  forward  out  of 
the  saddle,  and  add  in  any  way  possible  to  the 
natural  impetus  the  horse  has  given  him 
towards  rolling. 

If  the  horse  falls  on  his  right  side,  the  right 
leg  from  the  knee  to  the  heel  should  be  thrown 
upward  and  toward  the  back  of  the  horse.  The 

47 


T       H        E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 

rider's  leg  will  not  be  injured  unless  the  horse 
turns  a  complete  somersault,  which  is  very 
improbable.  A  fall  of  the  horse  on  his  left 
side  is  probably  least  dangerous  to  the  rider, 
as  the  left  leg  from  heel  to  knee  can  be  raised 
more  quickly  than  in  the  case  of  the  right  leg, 
while  the  right  leg  makes  its  normal  swing  as 
in  dismounting. 

The  rider,  freeing  himself  from  a  falling 
horse,  should  do  so  on  the  side  toward  which 
the  horse  is  falling,  thus  avoiding  being  kicked 
by  the  legs  of  the  probably  struggling  animal. 

One  night,  while  riding  home  from  Bakers- 
field  to  a  neighboring  ranch,  at  a  walking  gait, 
I  fell  asleep  on  my  horse.  My  mount  was  a 
notorious  runaway,  and  my  dreams  were  dis- 
turbed in  the  following  manner:  The  horse, 
frightened,  I  believe,  by  a  chained  dog,  jumped 
forward  and  in  a  moment  was  away  at  the  top 
of  his  stride.  His  first  jump  threw  me  back- 
ward over  the  cantle  of  the  saddle  between 
which  and  the  horse's  tail  I  hung  suspended. 
The  reins  had  been  jerked  out  of  my  hands. 
Instinctively  I  grasped  the  cantle  at  the  mo- 
ment of  awakening.  My  situation  was  not 
enviable.  Pitch  blackness  all  around.  The 
racing  hoofbeats  in  my  ears.  What  to  do 
now  was  the  vital  question.  To  continue  in 
the  position  I  held  was  but  to  postpone  the 
inevitable.  Barbed  wire  fences  and  trees 
loomed  ominously  ahead.  To  crawl  forward 

48 


THE-:-       HORSE 

over  the   cantle   would  mean   certain   death 
should,  at  that  moment,  a  collision  occur. 

This  is  what  I  did:  I  jumped  a  few  inches 
upward  from  the  horse's  back,  allowing  the 
animal  to  pass  out  from  under  me.  Although 
I  received  a  very  hard  fall,  it  was  the  only  way 
I  could  have  escaped  a  greater  injury. 


49 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Racing  and  race  horses — Early  training — Reasons  tor  the 
light  bit  and  the  short  stirrup — Use  and  misuse  of  the  whip 
in  racing — Horse  show  ethics — Looks  are  everything — Satisfy 
the  judge — Importance  of  etiquette — Polo  ponies — They  just 
happen  and  are  not  bred — Difficulty  of  finding  them — Ameni- 
ties of  the  polo  pony  trade — What  constitutes  a  perfect  polo 
pony. 

Racing. — The  race  horse  is  usually  halter- 
broken  when  it  is  a  few  months  old.  From  the 
time  of  its  birth  it  is  constantly  handled  by 
man,  so  that  even  from  colthood  it  is  a  very 
domestic  kind  of  animal.  Its  training  begins 
when  it  is  a  yearling.  The  lightest  possible 
rider  is  found  in  order  that  the  minimum  risk 
may  be  taken  of  injuring  the  animal's  legs, 
which  are  naturally  very  subject  to  injury  at 
this  time. 

Many  of  the  most  important  races  in  the 
history  of  a  horse  are  run  when  he  is  but  two 
years  old.  Horses  of  this  age,  and  under, 
generally  are  "breezed"  (exercised)  about  an 
eighth  of  a  mile  once  or  twice  a  week. 

To  determine  the  possibility  a  horse  has  of 
winning  a  given  race,  the  weight  carried  and 
the  length  of  the  race  must  be  known,  the 
horse's  staying  qualities,  its  breeding  and  past 
performance  borne  in  mind,  and  its  probable 
behavior  at  the  line-up  taken  into  considera- 
tion, so  that  some  idea  may  be  had  of  what 
kind  of  a  start  is  to  be  expected. 

The  method  adopted  in  racing  a  horse  and 

so 


T       H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 

getting  the  greatest  speed  out  of  him  consists, 
first,  in  the  proper  use  of  a  very  light  bit,  and 
taking  a  steady  pressure  on  the  horse's  mouth, 
so  that  the  horse  in  turn  will  take  a  steady 
pressure  on  the  bit  and  will  pull  against  the 
hold  of  his  rider.  This  kind  of  treatment  will 
obtain  from  a  horse  far  more  consistent  speed 
than  a  loose  rein  will  produce,  since  the  horse, 
once  taking  hold  of  the  racing  snaffle,  will  tend 
to  keep  the  same  pressure  against  the  bit,  no 
matter  how  exhausted  he  may  feel. 

Very  short  stirrups  and  the  rider's  weight 
placed  above  the  shoulders  of  a  horse  allow 
him  the  maximum  employment  of  his  hind 
legs  and  muscles  which  are  the  chief  factors 
in  propulsion. 

A  whip,  when  applied  at  the  right  moment, 
has  a  stimulating  effect,  and  will  give  a  horse 
the  desire  to  run  with  the  greatest  possible 
speed.  If  applied  at  the  wrong  moment,  it 
has  the  opposite  effect,  and  will  often  make 
the  horse  "dog  it."  Experience  and  knowledge 
of  the  individual  horse  alone  can  indicate  the 
proper  moment  for  the  use  of  the  whip.  A 
horse  that  is  doing  its  utmost,  if  whipped 
beyond  a  certain  point,  will  react  with  resent- 
ment or  give  up.  A  whip  can  be  used  advan- 
tageously for  a  quick  break  away.  A  sting  of 
the  whip  at  the  right  moment  will  sometimes 
make  the  co-ordination  between  the  mind  and 
muscles  of  a  lagging  horse  more  taut. 

51 


THE-:-       HORSE 

At  the  Horse  Show. — Appearance  is  the 
most  important  factor  at  a  horse  show,  and  a 
well-groomed  horse  will  have  a  great  advant- 
age in  the  ring  over  another  animal  whose 
intrinsic  worth  may  be  the  same,  but  who  has 
not  had  the  same  care. 

Since  the  winning  of  prizes  depends  entirely 
upon  the  decision  of  the  judge,  the  personal 
equation  is  most  important.  To  satisfy  the 
judge  should  be  the  primary  object  of  each 
contestant.  No  two  judges  have  quite  the 
same  thought  about  a  horse,  and  if  the  identity 
of  the  presiding  judge  is  known  before  the 
show,  it  will  facilitate  a  contestant,  who  has  a 
number  of  horses  from  which  to  select,  to 
choose  the  ones  that  would  have  the  greatest 
chance  of  winning. 

Some  horses,  especially  those  of  the  phleg- 
matic type,  show  to  a  better  advantage  in  the 
ring,  than  at  any  other  time.  The  music,  and 
commotion  incident  to  a  large  number  of  per- 
sons assembled  together,  stimulate  the  animal. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  horse  inclined  to  be  ex- 
citable, although  for  general  use  he  may  fulfill 
the  work  required  of  him  in  an  efficient  way, 
in  the  ring  will  become  nervous  and  give  a 
poor  performance. 

Etiquette  is  an  important  thing.  It  is  cus- 
tomary for  those  winning  premiums  to  place 
the  ribbon  in  the  mouth,  and  ride  once  around 
the  ring.  The  exit  from  the  ring,  through 

52 


THE-:-       HORSE 

which  horses  are  led  out,  sometimes  of  itself 
gives  rise  to  the  horse  acting  badly.  Care 
should  be  taken  when  the  animal  is  passing 
such  a  place  instantly  to  counteract  any  in- 
clination he  might  have  to  leave  the  ring. 

Polo. — Polo  ponies  happen — they  are  not 
bred,  at  least  to  no  greater  extent  than  apti- 
tude can  be  inherited.  The  chief  factors  per- 
taining to  a  polo  pony  are  speed,  staying  qual- 
ity, and  a  good  mouth,  which  will  continue 
sensitive  no  matter  how  winded  the  animal 
may  become.  (A  mouth  that  becomes  dry, 
and  loses  its  saliva,  will  invariably  lose  its 
sensitiveness.  Therefore  some  idea  can  be 
had,  by  looking  at  a  horse's  mouth  after  he 
has  been  through  violent  exercise,  whether  his 
mouth  is  sensitive  or  not.) 

A  well-reined  horse,  without  any  habits  of 
shying  off  a  mallet,  or  off  other  horses,  is 
necessary.  The  horse  should  be  able  to  jump 
forward  quickly,  and  accelerate  his  speed  so 
that  in  a  few  lengths  he  has  his  full  stride. 
A  horse  that  is  about  fifteen  hands  in  height 
and  runs  low  to  the  ground  is  perhaps  the  best 
for  this  purpose,  when  the  length  and  weight 
of  the  average  polo  mallet  are  considered. 

Fine  polo  ponies  are  often  found  on  the  big 
cow  ranches  in  the  western  part  of  North 
America.  I  have  had  ten  years'  experience 
buying  and  selling  these  animals.  It  is  dim- 
cult  to  tell,  with  any  certainty,  whether  a  horse 

53 


THE-:-       HORSE 

will  make  a  fine  polo  pony  or  not,  unless  he 
has  actually  been  taken  and  played  on  the 
polo  field. 

To  go  polo  pony  hunting  through  the  cattle 
ranches  is  very  interesting.  The  polo  pony 
buyer  is  confronted  with  a  number  of  animals ; 
anything  from  a  Shetland  pony  to  a  shire 
horse.  If  he  is  not  personally  acquainted  with 
the  owners,  he  will  do  well  to  be  ready  for 
any  kind  of  a  ride,  since  a  bucking  horse  or 
two  may  be  among  those  shown.  This  is  a 
kind  of  Western  humor  that  is  irrepressible. 

A  horse  that  shows  breeding,  has  saddle 
marks,  a  hackamore  nose,  and  a  sleepy  look 
in  its  eye,  is  likely  to  prove  interesting  to  the 
polo  man.  Such  a  horse  having  been  saddled, 
the  buyer  mounts  and  works  him  in  circles, 
figure  eights,  and  races  him  up  and  down, 
taking  note  of  the  horse's  staying  qualities, 
the  resiliency  of  mouth,  and  how  he  handles 
his  hind  legs  when  suddenly  brought  to  a  stop 
from  a  fast  gallop.  The  buyer  watches  the 
faces  of  the  horse  owners  and  continues  this 
exercise  as  long  as  they  seem  willing  to  have 
it  progress,  because  to  get  any  idea  of  the 
value  a  horse  may  have  for  polo,  he  must  be 
worked  fast  up  and  down  for  quite  a  long  time. 
Such  a  horse,  that  will  continue  to  respond 
quickly  to  every  demand  of  his  rider  will  prob- 
ably make  a  good  polo  pony. 

A  good  polo  pony  will  always  stake  race 

54 


THE-:-       HORSE 

well,  but  a  good  stake  horse  will  not  neces- 
sarily play  polo  well.  The  reason  for  this  is 
that  a  stake  race  only  involves  one  turn,  and 
a  period  of  polo  involves  many  turns  and  the 
continual  pulling  and  mauling  of  the  animal's 
mouth.  Some  horses  will  make  one  or  two 
quick  turns  and  then  lose  sensitiveness  in  the 
mouth.  Such  horses  will  be  useless  for  polo. 

Sometimes  a  polo  horse  buyer  is  able  to  pur- 
chase an  animal  for  around  a  hundred  dollars, 
and  after  keeping  him  for  a  few  months  may 
sell  him  for  two  or  three  thousand  dollars.  On 
first  thought  this  would  seem  to  include  a 
profit  beyond  all  reason,  which  would  involve 
"stealing"  him  in  the  first  place  and  his  sale  at 
an  exorbitant  figure  a  few  months  later.  An 
opportunity  of  this  sort,  however,  occurs  very 
rarely. 

If  we  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that 
such  a  horse,  for  the  purposes  of  his  original 
owner,  could  probably  be  duplicated  for  less 
than  a  hundred  dollars,  and  that  the  polo  man 
has  bought  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  head  of 
horses  that  he  has  had  to  sell  at  a  loss  in 
order  to  obtain  a  single  really  good  one,  the 
profit  will  not  seem  so  excessive.  Also  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  polo  buyer  can  never 
be  sure  that  he  has  secured  a  very  fine  polo 
pony  until  it  has  actually  played  a  month  or 
two. 


55 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


X  CHAPTER  VII. 

Habits  of  the  horse,  natural  and  acquired — Getting  up  and 
lying  down — Balking — A  useful  method  of  treating  it — Roll- 
ing— How  to  prevent  it — Pawing — Rearing — Striking — Kicking 
— Biting— Cinch  Binding— Shying — How  to  make  a  shying 
horse  go  past  the  object  of  his  terroi — Stumbling — Falling — 
Prancing — Plunging — Crow-hopping — Bucking,  buck  jumpers 
and  how  to  ride  them — Some  general  remarks  about  equine 
idiosyncrasies. 

Getting  Up  and  Lying  Down. — A  horse 
rising  from  a  lying  position  on  the  ground 
will  straighten  out  his  forelegs  first,  raising 
the  forepart  of  his  body  until  he  is  almost 
in  a  sitting  position,  and  then,  by  a  contrac- 
tion of  the  muscles,  bring  his  hind  legs  under 
his  body,  and  raise  his  hindquarters  from 
the  ground.  When  preparing  to  lie  down,  a 
horse  will  often  first  go  to  his  knees,  and 
will  always  nearly  touch  the  ground  with 
his  nose,  letting  the  forepart  of  his  body 
rest  on  the  ground  first. 

Balking. — Balking,  ordinarily,  is  the  pre- 
rogative of  the  mule.  It  is  an  unfortunate 
inhibition  on  the  part  of  an  animal  and  dis- 
turbs the  less  philosophical  rider.  The  ani- 
mal in  this  case  stands  perfectly  still  and 
refuses  to  move  in  any  direction. 

Some  well-meaning  persons  advise  as  a  cure 
the  building  of  a  fire  under  the  balking  ani- 
mal, or  some  other  measure  equally  drastic. 
Such  treatment,  however,  is  not  be  be  en- 
couraged, because  although  it  will  undoubt- 

56 


THE-:-       HORSE 

edly  eliminate  from  the  animal's  mind  the 
desire  to  balk,  it  will  anger  or  pain  him  to 
such  a  degree  that  he  will  probably  run 
madly  away  and  cause  the  ill-advised  person 
injury  of  some  sort. 

Balking  is  a  habit  that  is  usually  produced 
by  bad  management,  and  is  more  prevalent 
in  old  and  long-suffering  animals  than  in 
others.  If  a  horse,  who  is  predisposed  in 
this  way,  sees  in  front  of  him  a  steep  hill, 
and  is  allowed  to  stand  for  a  few  moments 
contemplating  it,  he  will  probably  become 
discouraged  and  balk.  A  deep  river  or  heavy 
sand  will  often  produce  the  same  effect.  To 
prevent  a  horse  from  balking,  the  rider 
should  hurry  him  up  or  through  these  places, 
so  that  but  a  moment  of  time  is  allowed  the 
animal  for  meditation. 

In  the  middle  of  Taylor  Creek  it  was  my 
misfortune  at  one  time  to  find  myself  seated 
upon  an  animal  which  assumed  a  balking 
position.  The  art  to  be  employed  in  dis- 
couraging a  horse  from  balking  depends  upon 
some  method  of  annoying  the  beast,  by  de- 
grees, so  that  he  becomes  disgusted  with 
himself  and  is  willing  to  cease.  Finding  my- 
self in  this  position  in  midstream,  I  took  off 
my  hat  and  filled  it  with  water,  which  I  slowly 
poured  into  the  animal's  ears,  taking  care  to 
allow  only  a  very  fine  stream  to  enter.  The 
animal  gave  evidence  of  being  displeased, 

57 


THE-:-       HORSE 

and,  being  unable  to  make  me  aware  of  his 
displeasure  by  continuing  in  a  stationary 
attitude,  he,  after  the  first  application  of 
water,  shook  his  head  violently  and  rushed 
from  the  stream. 

Where  there  is  no  water,  the  best  way  to 
get  a  balking  horse  in  motion  is  to  take  a 
whip  and  hit  him  gently  and  frequently  upon 
one  front  leg  until  it  moves,  and  then  upon 
the  other.  I  say  front  leg,  because  a  horse 
associates  a  front  leg  almost  entirely  with 
forward  movement  but  is  apt  to  think  of 
kicking  when  having  his  attention  called 
forcibly  to  a  hind  leg.  I  have  never  seen  the 
above  treatment  fail,  if  continued  a  reason- 
able length  of  time. 

Rolling. — A  horse  usually  rolls  for  the 
purpose  of  rubbing  his  back.  Horses  have 
been  known  to  roll  in  order  to  rid  them- 
selves of  their  riders,  but  this  is  very  rare. 
Some  horses  have  an  unfortunate  inclination 
to  roll  when  crossing  a  shallow  stream  or  a 
very  muddy  place.  The  rider  will  do  well, 
the  moment  the  animal  has  assumed  a  stand- 
ing position  in  a  place  of  this  sort,  with  head 
down  and  knees  slightly  bent,  to  urge  him 
vigorously  ahead  with  whip  or  spur,  since 
it  often  takes  drastic  measures  to  overcome 
this  desire  of  the  horse. 

A  horse  before  rolling  will  nearly  always 
try  and  stand  still  for  a  few  moments,  and 

58 


THE-:-       HORSE 

will  shift  his  weight  from  one  front  leg  to 
the  other,  with  lowered  head.  A  rider  ob- 
serving these  symptoms  should  act  at  once. 

Pawing. — Pawing  is  a  nervous  movement 
made  by  the  horse,  particularly  when  being 
restrained  in  his  desire  to  move  forward.  In 
the  act  of  pawing,  the  horse  stretches  one 
front  leg  forward,  strikes  the  ground  with  its 
hoof,  toe  pointed  downward,  and  carries  the 
hoof  back  and  up  toward  the  girth.  Most 
horses  at  some  time  paw.  The  habit  is  not 
serious. 

Rearing. — In  rearing,  the  horse  has  the 
tendency  to  stand  straight  up  on  his  hind 
legs.  Bad  handling  will  often  cause  a  horse  to 
do  this.  Cinch-binding  is  also  a  cause.  It  is 
said  that  a  bottle  of  charged  water  broken 
upon  the  horse's  head,  between  his  ears,  in 
such  a  way  that  its  contents  will  run  down 
the  face  of  the  animal,  will  eradicate  the 
horse's  desire  to  rear.  This  may,  in  part,  be 
true,  as  a  blow  of  sufficient  force  adminis- 
tered to  the  head  will  act  as  a  kind  of  panacea 
and  will  eradicate  the  desire  to  rear,  as  well 
as  all  other  natural  instincts  to  which  the 
horse  is  heir.  However,  this  method  is  self- 
evidently  foolish. 

The  best  preventive  method  is  to  avoid  any 
sudden  pull  upon  the  reins,  especially  when 
the  horse  is  standing  still,  because  it  is  at 
this  time  he  will  most  likely  rear. 

59 


THE-:-       HORSE 

Striking. — When  a  horse  kicks  with  his 
forelegs  it  is  called  striking.  To  do  this  he 
rears  on  his  hind  legs  and  can  only  be  really 
dangerous  on  the  downward  and  outward 
stroke  of  his  forelegs.  A  man  does  not  need 
to  stand  directly  in  front  of  such  a  horse  to 
receive  a  blow  from  his  forelegs,  because  in 
rearing  to  strike  he  will  often  pivot  on  his 
hind  legs  in  order  to  get  in  line  with  his 
target.  When  the  horse  rears  to  strike,  real 
presence  of  mind  will  usually  enable  a  per- 
son, within  the  radius  of  his  forelegs,  to 
jump  backward  before  the  horse  can  com- 
plete the  downward  stroke.  A  horse  can 
only  strike  from  a  standing  position,  and 
having  struck  once,  independent  of  hitting 
his  target,  will  hardly  ever  strike  a  second 
time  in  rapid  succession. 

Kicking. — A  horse  can  kick  in  almost  any 
direction  with  his  hind  legs.  The  target, 
however,  that  appeals  most  to  the  horse  is  at 
a  point  about  two  feet  from  and  directly  be- 
hind them.  This  preference  aside,  however, 
the  horse  with  his  hind  legs  can  kick  effec- 
tively forward  and  sideways.  This  last  is 
called  cow-kicking,  because  the  cow  is  espe- 
cially apt  in  this  form  of  exercise.  A  person 
seated  on  a  clever  kicking  horse  is  not  neces- 
sarily placed  beyond  the  animal's  reach.  I 
remember  once  having  the  shank  of  my  spur 
kicked  off  when  riding  upon  such  an  animal. 

60 


THE-:-       HORSE 

A  vicious  horse  will  often  kick  at  his  rider's 
stirrups  when  bucking,  because  when  in  the 
air  his  legs  are  not  needed  to  keep  balance. 
A  person  who  stands  right  up  against  the 
horse's  hind  legs  will  suffer  far  less  injury 
from  a  kick  than  one  who  stands  a  foot  or 
two  away.  However,  neither  position  is  to  be 
recommended  when  working  near  a  vicious 
horse. 

Biting. — Untamed  horses  will  nearly  al- 
ways use  their  teeth  as  a  weapon  of  defense. 
Even  gentle  horses  will  sometimes  bite  under 
provocative  circumstances.  Cinch  tightly  an 
old  horse,  so  disposed,  and  leave  his  head 
loose,  and  he  will  probably  take  a  piece  out 
of  the  would-be  rider's  left  arm.  Fore- 
thought will  very  easily  eliminate  the  pos- 
sibility of  this.  The  rider  need  only  take 
the  near  cheekpiece,  directly  above  the  bit,  in 
his  left  hand,  and,  placing  his  knuckles 
against  the  cheek  of  the  horse,  cinch  with 
his  right  hand.  If  the  horse  tries  to  turn  his 
head  to  bite,  a  poke  with  the  knuckles  will 
discourage  him.  Vicious  stallions  and  mares 
show  a  great  partiality  toward  biting.  If 
one  must  work  within  reach  of  the  teeth  of 
such  a  horse,  the  judicious  use  of  a  small 
club,  or  the  butt  end  of  a  whip,  will  help 
keep  the  animal's  mouth  where  it  belongs. 

I  once  saw,  between  the  Rattlesnake  Moun- 
tains and  Carson  Sink,  on  a  desolate  alkali 

61 


THE-:-       HORSE 

waste,  a  veritable  battle  of  the  stallions.  One 
day  when  we  were  returning  to  camp  near  the 
Walker  River,  while  hunting  Fuzztail,  the 
wild  horse  of  Nevada,  we  halted  at  the  edge 
of  a  rock  barrier,  and  there,  several  hundred 
yards  before  us,  were  two  great  stallions, 
leaders  of  rival  bands,  engaged  in  a  battle  to 
the  death,  as  it  shortly  proved. 

With  screams  of  rage  and  ripping  teeth 
they  fought  until  one,  gashed  in  the  throat, 
was  left  convulsed  in  its  death  struggles  on 
the  alkali  waste  that  it  long  had  called  its 
own. 

The  big  Jacks  of  the  mule-breeding 
ranches  are  more  terrible  with  their  teeth 
than  the  horse.  They  have  the  tenacity  of 
the  bulldog  in  combat,  and  fortunate  is  the 
fighting  stallion  that  has  steered  clear  from 
such  an  issue. 

Cinch-binding. — Cinch-binding  is  a  habit 
generally  founded  upon  predisposition.  It 
is  manifested  by  the  horse  cringing  when 
cinched  and  rearing  with  legs  stiff.  Un- 
usually fine  hair  and  delicate  skin  are  the 
commonest  causes  of  this  habit. 

If  a  horse  is  inclined  this  way  he  should 
be  cinched  carefully,  the  cinch  being  tight- 
ened by  degrees,  and  then  the  animal  should 
be  led  around  several  steps  before  being 
mounted.  Many  cinch-binders  have  fallen 
over  backward  with  a  too-impatient  rider. 

62 


THE-:-       HORSE 

Bad  cinch-binders  will  always  fall  over 
backward  if  mounted  and  started  off  too 
quickly. 

Shying. — Shying  is  a  common  habit  of  the 
horse  and  is  often  caused  by  defective  eye- 
sight. It  usually  manifests  itself  by  his 
dancing  away  from  an  object,  or  suddenly 
stopping  dead  in  his  tracks.  Often,  too,  a 
horse  in  shying  spins  away  from  the  source 
of  fright.  Fluttering  paper,  or  almost  any 
other  unusual  object,  will  cause  him  to  shy. 

Understanding  well  the  nature  of  a  horse, 
and  being  able  to  anticipate  what  will 
frighten  him,  will  enable  the  rider  to  throw 
his  balance  so  that  it  will  be  more  in  har- 
mony with  the  shying  horse.  If  it  is  de- 
sired to  take  him  up  to  the  object  at  which 
he  shies,  infinite  patience  should  be  used,  so 
that,  by  degrees,  the  horse  will  accustom 
himself  to  the  object  and  see  for  himself 
that  it  should  give  him  no  occasion  for  alarm. 
Urge  him  forward  at  the  object,  then,  if  he 
shies  away,  ride  him  a  little  further  away 
from  it  than  shying  would  naturally  take 
him,  and  start  him  back  again  toward  the 
point  of  fear.  The  fact  that  he  finds  himself 
actually  going  forward  toward  something  of 
which  he  is  inclined  to  be  afraid  helps  give 
the  animal  confidence.  Xenophon's  observa- 
tions in  this  matter  are  undoubtedly  true : 

"As  to  those  who  force  horses  forward  with 

63 


THE-:-       HORSE 

blows,  in  such  a  case,  they  only  inspire  them 
with  greater  terror;  for  they  imagine,  when 
they  suffer  any  pain  at  such  a  time,  that  what 
they  look  upon  with  alarm  is  in  some  way  the 
cause  of  it." 

Some  years  ago,  near  Lake  Tahoe,  I  rode  a 
horse  toward  Taylor  Creek.  My  objective 
was  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream.  About 
two  or  three  hundred  feet  from  the  bridge 
my  horse  began  to  shy  and  at  first  refused  to 
go  closer.  The  melting  snow  of  spring  was 
no  great  inducement  to  me  to  try  and  swim 
the  river,  although  it  was  necessary  for  me  to 
get  to  the  other  side.  The  horse  I  rode  was  an 
inveterate  shyer.  I  was  in  a  hurry  so  I  used 
the  following  expedient.  Quite  a  distance 
from  the  bridge  I  started  the  horse  toward 
it,  hoping  that  the  force  of  his  momentum 
would  carry  him  well  into  the  shying  zone 
before  he  could  succeed  in  stopping  his  for- 
ward movement.  If  a  horse  can  be  induced, 
by  subterfuge  or  otherwise,  to  arrive  in  the 
middle  of  a  place  of  which  he  is  afraid,  he 
will  undoubtedly  shy,  but  he  will  be  willing 
to  shy  in  almost  any  direction  so  that  only  a 
little  persuasion  from  the  rider  will  deter- 
mine the  direction.  In  this  instance  my 
horse  so  handled  his  legs  that  he  stopped  on 
the  outskirts  of  his  shying  zone  in  such  an 
able  manner  that  he  nearly  precipitated  me 
over  his  head.  I  resorted  then  to  the  next 

64 


THE-:-       HORSE 

trick  in  my  repertory.  Facing  the  unwilling 
beast  around  so  that  he  presented  his  tail  to 
the  bridge,  I  succeeded  in  backing  him  up 
until  he  was  upon  the  bridge  before  he 
realized  it.  Thus  I  was  able  to  persuade  him 
to  shy  off  the  bridge's  other  end,  which 
brought  me  in  good  time  to  my  destination. 

Stumbling. — Stumbling  is  a  kind  of  habit 
with  many  horses.  Horses  that  keep  their 
hoofs  close  to  the  ground  are  predisposed  to 
stumble.  Phlegmatic  and  careless  horses  are 
apt  to  stumble.  Faulty  conformation  is  often 
a  cause.  If  such  a  horse  is  to  be  taken  over  an 
uneven  piece  of  ground,  it  is  well,  with  the 
use  of  a  whip  or  other  aid,  to  keep  him  in  an 
excited  condition.  When  excited,  he  will  be 
more  on  the  alert  and  more  apt  to  lift  his 
feet  high  from  the  ground  than  he  would  be 
in  ordinary  circumstances. 

Falling. — Some  horses  throw  themselves 
purposely,  but  this  is  very  rare.  A  bad  rider, 
in  saving  his  own  balance,  often  pulls  over 
backward  a  horse  that  is  inclined  to  rear. 
The  usual  cause  of  falling,  however,  is  a  per- 
fectly normal  one,  and  is  merely  produced  by 
the  horse  slipping,  or  crossing  his  legs,  which 
is  the  result  of  slipping.  To  turn  when  gal- 
loping in  excess  of  a  certain  rate  of  speed  on 
a  slippery  place  or  an  uneven  piece  of  ground 
is  a  very  common  cause  of  a  horse's  falling. 
A  stumbling  horse  will  often  fall,  but  usually 

65 


THE-:-       HORSE 

only  to  his  knees,  which  is  hard  on  the  knees, 
but  not  so  serious  to  the  rider. 

Prancing. — Prancing  is  a  harmless  form  of 
activity  often  indulged  in  by  a  high-strung 
horse.  It  consists  merely  in  a  kind  of  hop- 
ping up  and  down,  and  occasions  a  rider  with 
a  poor  seat  discomfiture,  since  he  finds  it  dif- 
ficult in  keeping  in  rhythm  with  the  action  of1 
the  horse.  Hard  and  long  rides  have  a  seda- 
tive effect  in  this  regard  upon  the  horse  and 
lessen  his  desire  to  jump  up  and  down. 

Plunging. — Plunging  is  a  kind  of  exagger- 
ated prancing.  A  plunging  horse  will  easily 
turn  into  a  runaway. 

Crow-hopping. — Crow-hopping  is  a  mild 
form  of  bucking,  in  which  the  fore  feet  and 
the  hind  feet  of  a  horse  leave  and  return  to 
the  ground  alternately.  This  motion  of  a 
horse  should  not  occasion  a  good  rider  any 
discomfort.  An  old  horse  that  has  passed  its 
bucking  sage  will  often  crow-hop  as  a  result 
of  a  tight  cinch  and  a  cold  back. 

Bucking. — Of  the  many  annoyances  that  a 
horse  can  occasion  his  rider,  bucking  is  by 
far  the  worst.  The  best  rider  in  the  world 
will  some  time  find  a  horse  that  will  buck  him 
off,  and  the  most  terrific  bucking  horse  will 
some  time  find  a  rider  that  he  cannot  throw. 

Most  horses  on  the  American  and  Aus- 
tralian continents  have  been  allowed  to  run 
wild  from  colthood.  These  will  instinctively 
buck  the  first  time  they  are  ridden,  unless 

66 


THE-:-       HORSE 

great  care  is  taken  in  getting  them  gradually 
accustomed  to  the  feel  of  the  saddle  and  the 
ways  of  man. 

Bucking  with  all  really  wild  horses  is  con- 
genital, being  part  of  the  strongest  instinct, 
self-preservation.  The  horse  in  its  evolution 
was  ever  subject  to  attacks  by  beasts  of  prey, 
and  the  great  cats  of  prehistoric  times  were 
probably  the  first  living  creatures  to  try 
riding  upon  the  back  of  a  horse  in  order  to 
kill  from  this  point  of  vantage.  Thus  it 
has  become  instinctive  with  the  horse  to  try 
and  throw  the  thing  that  may  have  obtained 
a  lodging  upon  its  back.  Experience  taught 
him  that  bucking  was  most  effective,  and 
sometimes  it  does  not  take  so  very  much 
provocation  to  make  the  present-day  horse 
revert  to  the  defensive  measures  used  by  its 
ancestors. 

If  a  rider  can  stay  on  the  back  of  a  horse 
for  the  first  ten  bucks  he  is  not  likely  to  be 
dislodged,  since  most  horses  perceptibly  tire 
from  that  time  on.  The  ordinary  horse  will 
rarely  make  more  than  twenty  or  thirty  bucks 
at  one  time.  Bucking  is  performed  by  the 
horse  placing  its  head  between  its  front  legs 
and  catapulting  itself  into  the  air,  leaving 
the  ground  usually  with  its  front  feet  first. 
To  prevent  a  horse  from  bucking,  the  rider 
should,  by  a  succession  of  jerks  on  one  rein, 
try  to  keep  him  from  putting  down  his  head. 
By  pulling  on  one  side  in  this  manner,  the 

67 


THE-:-       HORSE 

rider  makes  it  less  easy  for  the  horse  to  give 
free  play  to  his  muscles,  also  a  semblance  of 
control  is  maintained,  which  psychologically 
helps  to  discourage  the  animal  from  its  at- 
tempts to  throw  its  rider. 

To  stay  on  the  back  of  a  bucking  horse 
large  and  dull  Mexican  spurs  may  be  used  to 
advantage.  The  rider  can  either  hook  the 
cinch  with  the  spurs,  or  the  horse's  flanks. 
It  is  not  well,  however,  to  hook  the  horse's 
flanks  until,  in  the  vernacular,  "he  is  going 
high  and  crooked,"  because  it  would  be  like 
touching  a  match  to  a  keg  of  dynamite  when 
an  explosion  might  have  been  averted.  The 
explosion,  however,  having  once  taken  place, 
it  is  safe  to  suppose  that  the  horse  is  exert- 
ing himself  to  his  utmost,  and  that  no  form 
of  grip  the  rider  may  take  will  cause  a  greater 
exertion  on  the  part  of  the  animal.  At  this 
time  the  reins,  gripped  firmly  in  the  left 
hand,  will  assist  greatly  in  keeping  the  rider 
in  the  saddle,  and  his  right  hand  swinging 
free  will  assist  in  maintaining  his  balance. 

General  Remarks. — Bad  habits  in  a  horse 
and  innate  viciousness,  in  a  general  way,  are 
best  overcome  by  gradually  making  the 
animal  realize  that  opposition  is  futile. 
Make  him  understand  that  no  harm,  un- 
reasonable annoyance  or  hardship  is  in- 
tended. His  resentment  and  desire  to 
forcibly  rid  himself  of  the  discomfort  and 
fright  occasioned  by  man  will  then  cease. 

68 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Running  Away — A  dangerous  habit  and  difficult  to  cure — 
Story  of  an  incorrigible  runaway  and  his  fate. 

Running  A  way  .--This  is  usually  the  mani- 
festation of  panic  in  a  horse.  He  is  con- 
fronted suddenly  with  an  unreasoning  fear 
and  runs  wildly,  expending  energy  so  power- 
fully generated  that  it  requires  an  outlet  of 
this  kind.  Blind  fear  will  usually  make  a 
horse  run  wildly.  When  he  is  madly  running 
away,  it  is  far  more  difficult  to  stop  him  than 
it  would  have  been  to  prevent  him  from  start- 
ing in  the  beginning.  A  horse  running  away 
becomes  entirely  obsessed  with  the  idea  of 
running.  It  is  a  kind  of  inertia  that  carries 
him  along  and  usually  ends  only  with  ex- 
haustion. Even  though  a  horse  has  a  good 
mouth,  fear  and  the  terrific  strain  of  the 
muscles  of  his  body  will  make  that  mouth 
rapidly  lose  sensitiveness  until  it  becomes 
entirely  impervious  to  even  the  action  of  a 
very  severe  bit. 

An  excitable  horse  will  more  readily  run 
away,  since  its  excitability  will  quickly  turn 
to  fear.  Also  a  hard  mouth  shows  a  pre- 
disposition to  running  away,  because  a  horse 
being  so  equipped  will  not  readily  feel  the 
restraining  influence  of  the  bit,  and,  perhaps, 
will  get  his  full  stride  before  he  can  be  made 
to  feel  any  attempt  at  control. 

69 


T       H       E       -;.-       H       O       R       S       E 

In  riding  a  horse  that  is  predisposed 
toward  running  away  the  rider  should  always 
keep  a  firm  hold  of  the  reins  in  order  to  be 
able,  at  any  moment,  to  counteract  his  first 
forward  jump.  The  safest  way  to  impede  a 
horse  when  he  is  actually  running  away  is  to 
seize  one  rein  with  two  hands,  and  with  a 
succession  of  yanks,  with  short  intervals  be- 
tween, bring  his  head  around  to  one  side.  In 
this  position  it  is  physically  impossible  for 
the  horse  to  run  so  fast,  and  the  position  of 
his  head  will  give  him  the  tendency  to  circle 
in  the  direction  toward  which  his  head  is 
pointed.  In  this  way  some  sort  of  control  is 
obtained,  and  any  control,  no  matter  how 
slight,  is  advantageous,  because  the  psychol- 
ogy of  the  horse  is  such  that,  as  soon  as  any 
sense  of  restraint  is  recognized,  the  animal  is 
inclined  to  resume  making  concessions  to  the 
will  of  his  rider. 

In  the  spring  of  1912  or  thereabouts,  the 
Rancho  Del  Paso,  which  for  a  long  time  had 
belonged  to  the  Haggin  Estate,  was  sold,  and 
the  remnants  of  the  thoroughbred  horses 
there  were  shipped  to  the  Stockdale  Ranch 
at  Bakersfield. 

In  their  veins  ran  the  blood  of  Salvator 
and  of  many  other  famous  race  horses  that 
for  long  years  on  the  American  turf  had  car- 
ried the  Haggin  colors  to  victory. 

The  younger  horses  of  this   shipment  ran 

70 


THE-:-       HORSE 

wild  for  a  number  of  years  at  Stockdale,  and 
then  several  of  them  were  broken  by  the  cow- 
boys on  the  ranch.  I  undertook  the  breaking 
of  one  of  these  colts,  and  rode  him  two  or 
three  times  in  a  large  corral.  In  order  to 
mount  the  horse  it  had  to  be  thrown  on  the 
ground  and  held.  After  several  of  these  les- 
sons, I  decided  it  was  time  to  give  the  animal 
a  saunter  in  one  of  the  lanes  leading  through 
the  ranch,  and  asked  the  nearest  cowboy  to 
herd  for  me  with  a  riata.  The  gate  of  the 
corral  was  thrown  open.  The  horse,  seeing 
freedom  ahead,  made  a  wild  rush  for  the  lane. 
The  cowboy,  instead  of  keeping  my  horse  at 
a  few  feet  distance  from  his  own,  by  taking 
proper  turns  on  his  pommel,  threw  away  his 
slack,  tying  only  the  end  of  his  rope  to  his 
saddle.  The  horse,  dashing  through  the  gate 
at  a  terrific  pace,  was  thrown  to  the  ground 
with  great  force  as  soon  as  the  rope  tautened. 
Having  the  fraction  of  a  moment  to  contem- 
plate the  unfortunate  incident  that  was  about 
to  occur,  I  braced  myself  and  was  still  on  the 
back  of  the  horse  when  he  regained  his  feet. 
The  next  day  I  decided  to  start  my  ride 
from  the  middle  of  the  lane.  The  horse  was 
held  down  with  blinds  over  his  eyes  by  two 
wranglers.  Before  I  quite  managed  to  get 
my  seat  he  reared  high  in  the  air,  knocking 
down  one  of  the  men.  The  other  man  let  the 
ropes  loose  and  dodged.  With  the  blinds 

71 


THE-;-HOR'SE 

over  his  eyes  he  ran  madly  away,  heading  for 
a  hay  wagon.  Without  an  attempt  at  direc- 
tion he  would  probably  have  hit  the  wagon 
at  an  angle  and  would  have  broken  my  leg. 
I  knew  I  could  not  pull  him  clear  of  the 
wagon,  but  by  employing  all  my  strength 
directed  him  head  on,  and  the  collision 
occurred  in  this  position.  The  horse  re- 
bounded over  backward.  Two  planks  were 
smashed  to  splinters  on  the  floor  of  the 
wagon,  and  a  gash  across  the  horse's  chest 
left  upon  him  a  mark  that  never  diappeared. 

On  my  next  ride,  hoping  the  animal  had 
some  sense  knocked  into  him,  I  managed  to 
start  out  at  a  moderate  gait.  In  a  few  mo- 
ments, however,  he  started  bucking,  rapidly 
increasing  his  pace  so  that  the  bucks  finally 
flattened  out  into  the  tearing  stride  of  a  run- 
away horse. 

A  single  tree  was  directly  in  the  path,  and, 
pull  as  I  would,  I  saw  that  a  collision  could 
not  be  averted.  This  supple  tree,  being 
struck,  was  the  cause  of  the  animal's  rebound- 
ing several  feet  in  the  direction  whence  he 
came  and  assuming  a  position  upon  his  back 
with  legs  extended  upward.  During  this 
occurrence  I  rolled  off,  but  remounted  the 
animal  before  he  had  regained  his  wind.  I 
realized,  however,  that  this  was  an  incor- 
rigible runaway. 

Having  a  friend,  one  Ramon  Felis,  bucka- 

72 


T       H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 

roo  foreman  of  San  Emidio  Ranch,  and 
knowing  he  was  in  want  of  a  horse,  I  nat- 
urally had  him  in  mind,  and  sent  the  animal 
to  him  without  delay.  In  order  to  keep  the 
ranch  records  balanced,  it  was  his  privilege 
to  return  a  horse  to  me  for  the  one  I  had 
sent,  and,  it  is  true,  a  great  deal  of  disturb- 
ance was  caused  by  the  hard-bucking  animal 
which  I  received  from  Ramon,  one  of  the 
cowboys  having  a  leg  broken  as  the  result  of 
its  advent  at  Stockdale. 

Except  for  the  courteous  expression  of 
gratitude  for  the  horse  I  sent  him,  I  heard 
nothing  for  many  months  as  to  how  the 
animal  fared  in  San  Emidio's  remuda.  Long 
afterward  I  chanced  to  hear  two  men  dis- 
cussing the  loss  of  a  very  good  saddle.  It 
appeared  that  Ramon  had  received  as  a  pres- 
ent a  fine  looking  horse,  and  that  he  took  the 
precaution,  which  is  the  usual  wont  of  com- 
petent foremen,  to  order  one  of  his  men  to 
bestride  the  newly  arrived  animal,  before 
mounting  it  himself.  The  animal  being  un- 
able to  buck  very  hard,  and  ridden  in  a  corral, 
did  not  have  a  fair  chance  to  show  off  his  real 
paces,  so  Ramon,  encouraged  in  this  manner, 
subsequently  bestrode  the  animal  and  led  his 
cowboys  to  a  round-up  in  the  hills. 

Before  reaching  their  destination,  to  the 
marvel  of  the  assembled  men,  Ramon  dis- 
appeared at  break-neck  speed  over  an  ad- 

73 


THE-:-       HORSE 

jacent  bluff.  The  cowboys,  accustomed  to 
feats  of  horsemanship,  thought  no  more  of 
the  matter  and  went  about  their  business. 
The  next  morning,  however,  when  a  certain 
concern  for  Ramon's  health  was  beginning 
to  be  felt,  his  much-bedraggled  figure  ap- 
peared at  the  bunk  house.  It  was  nearly  a 
week  before  the  cowboys  succeeded  in  find- 
ing the  horse  which  had  last  carried  Ramon, 
and  several  weeks  afterward  a  few  remnants 
of  the  saddle  were  found  where  they  had 
been  left  by  the  coyotes. 


74 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Breaking  a  colt  to  the  saddle — A  short  method  of  taming 
and  training — How  the  colt  is  taught  to  tolerate  handling- 
How  he  is  saddled  and  cinched  the  first  time— How  he  is 
ridden. 

A  number  of  horses  are  running  wild  in  a 
pasture,  perhaps  several  of  them  are  from 
two  to  five  years  of  age.  Four  years  of  age 
is  the  best  time  at  which  to  break  a  horse, 
because  at  that  age  he  is  young  enough  to  be 
tractable,  while  his  bone  and  tendon  are  so 
adequately  developed  as  not  easily  to  be  in- 
jured. These  horses  may  never  have  felt 
restraint  of  any  kind  save  that  of  the  fence 
that  bounds  the  pasture,  nor  have  known  any 
laws  other  than  those  that  nature  taught 
them. 

Of  course,  wherever  there  are  horses  now- 
adays, man  also  is  near.  But  the  unbroken 
colt's  knowledge  of  the  human  being  is 
limited  to  an  occasional  glimpse  at  one  and 
that  vague  hereditary  fear  which  most  wild 
things  feel  toward  man. 

One  of  these  horses  in  our  pasture  has  the 
appearance  of  being  fast  and  intelligent,  and 
of  having  excellent  action.  It  is  decided  to 
make  of  him  a  riding  horse,  to  change  this 
raw  material  into  the  finished  product — a 
perfectly  broken  saddle  animal. 

Several  men  on  horseback  enter  the  pasture 

75 


THE-:-       HORSE 

where  the  horses  are  and  drive  them  some- 
where to  a  corral.  A  round  corral  is  best 
when  horses  are  to  be  handled  because  in 
such  a  corral  there  are  no  projections  that 
might  be  the  means  of  crippling  animals  that, 
in  the  circumstances,  would  be  restive  and 
trying  to  find  a  way  out. 

All  the  horses,  except  the  good  looking 
animal  we  have  spoken  of,  having  been  cor- 
ralled, are  allowed  to  pass  out  through  the 
gate.  The  selected  horse,  however,  is  roped, 
or,  preferably,  is  driven  into  an  adjacent 
chute  and  there  haltered. 

In  the  event  of  the  horse  being  roped,  the 
halter  must  be  put  on  him  at  the  first  pos- 
sible moment.  This  must  be  done  so  as  to 
minimize  the  risk  of  straining  or  choking  the 
animal  by  the  tightening  noose  of  the  rope 
around  his  neck. 

An  upright  pole  should  be  planted  firmly 
in  the  ground  in  the  center  of  the  corral,  and 
the  latter  should  be  about  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
in  diameter. 

If  the  horse  has  been  driven  into  a  chute 
adjoining  the  corral  the  matter  of  haltering 
him  is  simpler.  It  is  done  by  standing  above 
the  animal  on  the  near  side,  the  horse- 
breaker  holding  the  halter  in  his  right  hand 
by  the  end  of  the  long  headpiece,  throwing 
this  over  the  animal's  head  and  catching  the 
short  strap  buckle  in  the  left  hand  when  the 

76 


T       H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 

horse's  struggles  have  ceased  sufficiently  to 
permit  of  doing  so.  Then  the  horse-breaker 
slowly  works  the  opening  of  the  halter  up- 
ward and  forward  towards  the  animal's  nose, 
pulling  it  over  the  nose,  and  snapping  the 
buckle  behind  the  near  ear. 

A  rope  at  least  thirty  feet  long,  preferably 
of  hemp,  and  an  inch  in  diameter,  should  be 
attached  to  the  halter.  The  horse-breaker 
opens  the  gate  of  the  chute,  lets  the  animal 
come  back  into  the  corral,  and  takes  his  posi- 
tion near  the  center  of  the  ring. 

If  the  horse  has  been  roped,  the  horse- 
breaker  should  take  about  a  turn  and  a  half 
of  the  rope  around  the  post  in  the  center  of 
the  corral,  and  let  the  horse  tire  himself 
fairly  well  out  in  his  struggles  to  get  free, 
the  horse-breaker  in  the  meanwhile  being 
careful  to  give  the  animal  as  few  short 
"check  ups"  as  possible  by  keeping  the  rope 
taut. 

When  the  horse  is  sufficiently  tired,  the 
man,  after  two  or  three  attempts,  if  he  is 
without  a  helper,  keeping  several  turns  of  the 
rope  around  the  post  mentioned,  goes  toward 
the  horse  along  the  rope,  holding  its  loose 
end  in  the  left  hand,  being  careful  to  be  on 
that  side  of  the  rope  which  will  bring  him 
to  the  near  side  of  the  horse,  which,  if  the 
rope  is  taut,  is  facing  him.  He  should  ad- 

77 


THE-:-       HORSE 

vance  rather  rapidly  with  the  right  hand  ex- 
tended toward  the  animal's  nose. 

As  the  man  nears  the  horse  he  must  be 
careful  to  approach  from  the  side  as  well  as 
the  front,  because  there  is  always  danger  of 
the  horse  striking  and  plunging  forward. 

The  moment  the  horse  can  be  touched  on 
the  side  of  the  neck,  the  halter  can  probably 
be  adjusted  in  more  or  less  the  same  manner 
described  in  haltering  the  horse  in  the  chute. 

The  next  step  after  the  horse  is  haltered  is 
to  take  off  the  lariat  rope  and  take  a  turn 
and  a  half  around  the  pole  in  the  center  of 
the  corral  with  the  loose  end  of  the  halter 
rope. 

Flagging  is  next.  For  this  purpose  several 
sacks,  or  part  of  a  blanket,  attached  to  a  pole, 
are  useful.  The  colt,  held  tied  to  the  pole 
in  the  middle  of  the  corral,  is  generally 
facing  the  man  in  the  center,  because  the 
rope  being  attached  to  the  under  part  of  the 
halter,  has  the  tendency  to  jerk  the  head  of 
the  struggling  animal  towards  the  hitching 
post,  leaving  him  with  outstretched  legs 
pulling  back  on  his  haunches.  The  horse- 
breaker,  keeping  several  turns  of  the  rope  on 
the  hitching  pole,  again  approaches  the 
horse  from  the  front,  and  extending  the  flag 
projecting  on  the  pole  toward  the  horse's 
head  and  back,  he  allows  it  to  pass  over  the 
animal's  ears  and  neck,  and  eventually  rubs 

78 


THE-:-       HORSE 

the  horse  all  over  his  back.  The  pole  should 
be  long  enough  to  allow  a  safe  distance  from 
the  heels  of  the  animal. 

After  a  while,  the  horse,  finding  he  is  un- 
able to  escape  from  this  rather  novel  massage, 
reconciles  himself  to  these  manipulations, 
and  allows  the  flag  to  be  passed  all  over  his 
body  without  protesting.  Slap  the  horse  on 
the  neck  and  back  with  the  flag  after  it  has 
been  removed  from  the  pole,  and  also  rub  it 
on  his  neck  and  withers.  This  will  gradually 
accustom  the  animal  to  being  touched  all 
over. 

Next  he  should  put  the  noose  of  the  lariat 
rope  around  the  body  of  the  horse  at  withers 
and  girth.  This  is  easily  done  by  placing  the 
loop  over  the  horse's  back  and  letting  him 
back  his  hind  legs  through  it,  or  letting  him 
pass  through  the  loop  in  front;  then,  stand- 
ing out  of  reach  of  the  horse's  heels,  the 
breaker  should  pull  the  noose  tight,  which 
will  usually  cause  a  number  of  rapid  gyra- 
tions from  the  surprised  animal.  The  pur- 
pose of  this  last  exercise  is  to  accustom  the 
horse  to  the  tightening  of  the  cinch  when 
the  saddle  is  to  be  placed  on  his  back. 

When  only  the  loop  of  the  lariat  is  tight- 
ened around  the  body  of  the  horse,  in  the 
way  we  have  described,  he  can  fall  forward 
or  backward  and  kick  out  in  all  directions 
without  doing  much  harm.  After  the  animal 

79 


THE-:-       HORSE 

has  become  accustomed  to  being  cinched  in 
this  manner,  the  blanket  may  be  brought,  and 
this  the  horse-breaker  uses  as  he  has  pre- 
viously done  the  flag  until  he  feels  the  ani- 
mal is  calm  enough  to  allow  the  blanket  to 
be  placed  on  his  back. 

The  bridle  is  then  brought,  preferably  a 
strong  head  stall  with  a  snaffle  bit,  and  long, 
thick  reins  having  the  ends  buckled.  These 
reins  should  be  slipped  over  the  horse's  head 
first  and  then  the  head  stall  placed  on  the 
head  of  the  horse  in  very  much  the  same 
manner  as  described  for  placing  the  halter, 
only  that  by  putting  the  left  hand  in  the 
corner  of  the  near  side  of  the  horse's  mouth, 
the  jaws  of  the  horse  are  forced  open,  and  in 
this  way  the  bit  is  directed  into  the  mouth, 
while  the  remainder  of  the  bridle  is  slipped 
over  the  head. 

The  reins  should  now  be  pulled  tight  on 
the  right  side,  brought  over  the  horse's  head 
behind  his  ears,  carried  down  the  left  side 
of  his  face,  and  then  under  the  jaw  and 
looped  over  the  right  rein  as  it  starts  from 
the  bit.  The  left  rein  is  also  pulled  tight 
and  has  been  made  part  of  this  loop.  A  knot 
is  then  tied  of  a  sufficient  size  to  prevent  the 
ends  of  the  reins  from  protruding  too  far 
and  in  any  way  becoming  tangled  with  the 
horse. 

The    saddle    is    then    brought    (Mexican), 

80 


THE-:-       HORSE 

which  is  held  by  the  pommel  in  the  right 
hand  with  its  right  side  toward  the  near  side 
of  the  horse.  The  right  stirrup  is  fastened 
over  the  saddle  horn  and  the  cinching  para- 
phernalia is  brought  from  the  right  side  over 
the  back  of  the  saddle  and  allowed  to  hang 
on  its  left  side. 

The  saddle  is  then  moved  forward  toward 
the  horse,  until  it  touches  him  at  a  point  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  shoulder,  and  is 
moved  rapidly  away  again  before  the  horse 
has  time  to  resent  its  approach.  As  the  horse 
becomes  used  to  the  saddle  touching  him  on 
the  shoulder,  the  horse-breaker  contrives  to 
slip  it  onto  his  back  at  a  point  above  the 
withers  and  takes  hold  of  the  left  girth  strap 
with  the  right  hand.  The  saddle  is  allowed 
to  overbalance  a  little  on  the  right  side,  so 
that  if  the  horse  takes  a  sudden  jump  or 
kicks,  the  equilibrium  of  the  saddle  may  be 
maintained  by  keeping  a  certain  pull  on  the 
left  cinch  strap.  When  it  is  evident  that  the 
horse  will  stand  still,  allowing  the  saddle  to 
sit  in  this  way  upon  his  back,  the  cinch  ring 
can  be  slipped  over  the  saddle  horn,  which 
permits  the  cinch  rigging  to  fall  on  the  off 
side. 

The  problem  is  now  to  bring  the  cinch 
from  the  right  side  up  under  the  girth  of  the 
horse  and  buckle  it  on  the  near  side.  It  is 
usually  risky  to  try  and  reach  this  cinch 

81 


THE-:-       HORSE 

under  the  stomach  of  the  horse  with  the 
hand.  The  best  way  is  to  hold  the  end  of 
the  near  side  cinch  strap  in  the  right  hand, 
letting  the  rest  of  it  hang  in  a  loop  toward 
the  ground.  Swing  this  loop  slowly  back- 
ward and  forward  under  the  stomach  of  the 
horse  until  the  cinch  strap  catches  the  cinch 
ring  in  its  loop.  The  horse-breaker  should 
now  pull  this  cinch,  which  is  caught  in  the 
loop,  under  the  girth  of  the  horse,  slowly 
toward  him,  and  catch  the  cinch  ring  in  his 
right  hand,  directing  the  ring  to  its  buckle, 
then  draw  the  cinch  tight  enough  to  make 
the  saddle  firm  on  the  back  of  the  horse,  and 
release  the  right  stirrup  from  the  saddle 
horn.  Unwinding  the  rope  from  the  pole  in 
the  middle  of  the  corral,  the  horse-breaker 
holds  it  firmly  with  his  hand,  and  lets  the 
horse  have  a  little  slack,  at  the  same  time 
urging  the  animal  to  move.  The  horse  will 
probably  make  a  few  kicks  or  bucks  as  he 
starts  forward  around  the  edge  of  the  corral, 
meanwhile  the  horse-breaker  should  pull  the 
animal's  head  toward  him,  quieting  the 
horse  as  soon  as  possible,  and,  holding  the 
rope  taut,  should  approach  the  animal's  neck, 
always  taking  care  to  be  on  the  near  side. 

Now,  untying  the  reins  from  under  the 
animal's  jaw,  he  should  bring  the  right  rein 
over  the  horse's  head  down  toward  the  left 
side  of  the  bit,  and  seize  this  rein  at  that 

82 


THE-:-       HORSE 

point  with  his  left  hand.  Holding,  also  in 
his  left  hand,  the  left  rein  at  its  starting 
point  from  the  bit,  and  the  left  cheek  piece 
of  the  head  stall  as  it  starts  from  the  bit,  he 
should  take  the  left  stirrup  in  his  right  hand. 
Taking  care  not  to  let  more  than  the  tip  of 
his  boot  pass  through,  he  should  place  his 
left  foot  in  the  stirrup,  and  raise  his  weight 
on  to  the  stirrup,  keeping  his  left  arm  taut, 
which  is  holding  the  horse  at  a  point  near 
the  bit.  ' 

If  the  horse  tries  to  whirl  away  from  the 
rider  in  this  position,  the  grip  of  the  left 
hand  on  the  cheek  piece  may  be  brought  to 
bear  with  such  force  that  it  will  keep  the 
horse's  head  toward  the  man,  who  at  this 
time  is  balanced  standing  on  the  left  stirrup. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  horse  turns  to  the 
near  side  to  grip  the  man's  arm  or  leg  with 
his  teeth,  the  knuckles  of  the  left  hand  are 
shoved  under  the  cheek  piece  into  the  jaw 
of  the  horse,  which  in  this  way  can  be  kept 
at  a  safe  distance. 

If  the  horse  now  rears,  tries  to  fall  over 
backward,  bucks,  or  looks  like  turning  a 
forward  somersault,  the  rider  should  leap  off 
his  left  foot  several  feet  back  from  the  near 
side  of  the  horse  into  safety,  and  when  the 
horse  has  subsided  he  must  try  the  same 
manuevers  again.  Then,  if  the  horse  stands 
sufficiently  quiet,  the  rider  may  slowly  raise 

83 


THE-:-       HORSE 

his  right  leg  over  the  cantle  of  the  saddle 
and  find  the  stirrup  on  the  right  side.  Now 
he  may  release  the  cheek  piece  with  his  left 
hand,  continuing,  however,  to  hold  the  reins, 
and  bringing  that  hand  up  toward  the  cantle 
let  the  left  rein  slip  through  it  until  it  is  in 
its  proper  place  in  front  of  the  cantle.  The 
right  rein,  which  will  be  left  with  too  much 
slack,  can  be  taken  with  the  right  hand  and 
pulled  even  with  the  left  rein.  If  there  are 
any  fireworks  left  in  the  horse,  this  is  the 
time  for  the  demonstration. 

The  one  object  now  is  for  the  rider  to 
keep  the  horse  under  him  until  he  is  ready, 
of  his  own  accord,  to  dismount.  For  twenty 
minutes  or  half  an  hour,  the  horse  may  be 
urged  slowly  around  the  corral,  and  in  order 
to  get  some  sort  of  direction,  the  rein  on  the 
side  on  which  it  is  desired  to  progress  should 
be  pulled,  and  the  other  rein  allowed  loose. 
To  accustom  the  horse  to  all  that  in  after 
days  may  be  required  of  him,  the  rider  at 
this  time  should  slap  the  horse  on  its  back, 
carry  the  two  stirrups  with  his  legs  up 
toward  the  cantle  of  the  saddle  and  throw 
his  weight  from  side  to  side. 

A  few  rides  of  this  sort  and  the  carrying 
out  of  the  principles  noted  will  soon  gentle 
any  horse.  His  further  training  is  discussed 
with  the  subject  "Reining  a  horse,"  in  Chap- 
ter IV. 

84 


THE-:-       HORSE 

The  horse,  handled  in  this  manner,  becomes 
halter  broken  of  his  own  accord,  since  in  a 
round  corral  the  man,  by  suddenly  taking  up 
the  slack  on  a  rope  attached  to  the  halter, 
will  accustom  the  animal  to  have  his  head 
pulled  one  way  or  the  other,  and  the  moment 
the  horse's  head  answers  to  the  pull  of  the 
halter,  the  rope  should  be  left  slack  as  his 
reward  for  obedience. 


85 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


CHAPTER  X. 

Buying  a  Saddle  Horse^Age  shown  by  the  teeth — How  to 
detect  poor  vision  and  other  defects  •>—  Splints,  ringbone, 
spavin — Sore  backs,  what  they  indicate — Shoulder  lameness 
and  navicular  disease — Laminitis  or  founder — Testing  a  horse 
for  wind — How  to  recognize  a  wind-sucker  or  crib-biter. 

Examination.  —  Beginning  at  the  horse's 
head  it  is  well  to  look  in  the  animal's  mouth 
to  obtain  a  general  idea  of  his  age.  An  ap- 
proximation in  this  respect  can  be  made  from 
the  condition  of  his  teeth.  The  ordinary  horse 
has  two  sets  of  incisor  teeth,  each  set  contain- 
ing three  sets  of  two  teeth.  The  two  middle 
front  teeth,  of  the  respective  jaws,  are  called 
the  middle  incisors.  The  two  teeth  which  are 
on  either  side  of  these  are  the  intermediate 
incisors.  The  two  teeth  which  in  turn  are  on 
either  side  of  the  two  intermediate  teeth  are 
called  the  corner  incisors. 

Age  Index. — The  animal  that  is  two  years 
of  age  has  a  full  set  of  colt  incisor  teeth.  They 
are  of  the  same  number  and  general  appear- 
ance as  horse  teeth,  only  they  are  smaller, 
whiter  and  shorter.  At  three  years  of  age, 
the  two  middle  incisors  are  horse  teeth,  while 
the  intermediate  and  corner  ones  are  still  colt 
teeth.  At  four,  the  middle  and  intermediate 
incisors  are  horse  teeth,  while  only  the  corner 
ones  are  colt  teeth.  At  five,  the  horse  has  a 
full  mouth  of  horse  teeth.  Each  of  these  has 

86 


THE-:-       HORSE 

at  the  exposed  ends  an  indenture  known  as 
a  cup.  At  six,  these  cups  disappear  from  the 
middle  incisors,  the  use  of  the  teeth  wearing 
the  ends  smooth.  The  intermediate  and  corner 
incisors  still  possess  the  cups  at  this  age.  At 
seven,  the  cups  disappear  from  the  intermedi- 
ate as  well  as  the  middle  incisor  teeth,  and  at 
eight  the  cups  have. also  disappeared  from  the 
corner  ones,  so  that  the  animal  has  what  is 
known  as  a  smooth  mouth. 

From  this  time  on  as  the  horse  gets  older, 
his  teeth  look  longer,  but  in  reality  this  is  not 
entirely  the  case  since  wear  and  growth  con- 
tinue to  counteract  each  other  as  in  colthood, 
but  the  fact  that  with  age  the  gums  recede 
also  tends  to  make  the  teeth  of  an  old  horse 
look  longer.  The  older  a  horse  gets  the  more 
the  width  of  his  teeth  from  outside  to  inside 
diminishes.  In  a  young  horse,  when  his  jaws 
are  closed,  the  incisor  teeth  of  the  upper  jaw 
and  lower  jaw  are  inclined  to  be  in  the  same 
perpendicular  plane.  When  the  horse  gets 
old,  however,  these  teeth  tend  to  make  an 
acute  angle  with  each  other;  the  apex  of  the 
angle  being  where  the  upper  and  lower  teeth 
join  each  other.  The  older  the  horse  is,  the 
more  acute  the  angle.  Very  old  horses  gen- 
erally have  yellow  teeth,  triangular  shaped, 
while  the  teeth  of  a  young  horse  are  more 
oval  in  appearance. 


87 


THE-:-       HORSE 

Defects.- — The  horse's  eyes  should  be  clear. 
If  it  is  thought  the  animal  has  defective  sight, 
moving  the  hand  toward  the  eye  quickly  and 
taking  it  away  again  without  touching  the 
horse's  head  will  aid  in  determining  this  fact. 

A  quick  glance  at  the  horse's  neck  will  tell 
whether  it  is  free  from  defect  such  as  fistula; 
fistula  being  a  kind  of  localized  open  sore  with 
a  very  deep  root.  On  observing  the  animal's 
forelegs  medium  large  and  straight  bones  are 
desirable;  however,  that  part  from  the  ankle 
to  the  hoof,  which  is  the  pastern,  should  be 
sloping  enough  to  minimize  any  danger  of 
knuckling  over. 

Ordinary  splints  do  no  real  harm,  only  at 
incipiency  they  usually  make  the  animal  lame. 
Splints  practically  never  come  on  a  horse's 
hind  legs. 

Side-bones  and  ring-bones  which  come  upon 
the  coronet,  that  fore  part  of  the  horse's  foot 
immediately  above  the  hoof,  always  end  in 
causing  lameness,  and  are  practically  incurable. 
Their  presence  can  be  detected  by  bony  en- 
largements at  the  side  and  above  the  horse's 
hoof  in  the  case  of  a  side-bone,  and  at  the  side 
above  and  in  front  of  the  horse's  hoof  in  the 
case  of  a  ring-bone. 

Bone  spavin  is  the  usual  cause  of  lameness 
on  a  horse's  hind  legs.  This  is  a  bony  enlarge- 
ment immediately  below  and  on  the  inside  of 
the  horse's  hock,  and  can  be  seen  best  by 

88 


T       H       E       -:-       H       Q       R       S       E 

standing  in  front  of  the  horse  and  looking 
between  its  front  legs.  This  is  an  unsound- 
ness  that  can  rarely  be  cured.  The  hoofs  of 
the  hind  legs  are  less  subject  to  ring-bones 
and  side-bones  than  those  of  the  forelegs. 

Sore  backs  constitute  an  undesirable  factor 
in  a  horse  to  be  used  for  saddle  purposes, 
especially  if  the  horse  is  sore  above  the  withers 
or  over  the  kidneys.  An  old  kidney  sore  can 
rarely  be  cured,  and  always  makes  the  horse 
weak  in  that  part  of  his  back.  Girth  sores  are 
not  of  a  very  serious  character. 

Most  horses  that  are  fat  when  taken  out  of 
pasture  and  ridden  will  acquire  girth  sores  by 
the  slipping  forward  of  the  saddle,  but  the 
horse  when  conditioned  properly  and  hardened 
will  readily  overcome  this  soreness,  if  care  is 
taken  in  cinching  and  keeping  the  saddle  in 
its  proper  place  directly  behind  the  withers 
on  the  horse's  back. 

Shoulder  lameness  and  navicular  disease  are 
the  bugbears  of  most  horsemen.  They  are 
difficult  to  diagnose.  If  a  horse  is  lame  and 
no  physical  malformation  manifests  itself,  the 
suspected  leg  can  be  raised  and  moved  back 
and  forth,  and  if  the  horse  flinches  it  is  prob- 
ably shoulder  lameness.  Shoulder  lameness 
usually  lasts  a  long  time,  but  generally  dis- 
appears with  rest.  If  a  horse  is  lame  on  both 
forelegs  at  the  same  time  he  is  said  to  be 
"sore  in  front."  Navicular  disease,  on  the 

89 


THE-:-       HORSE 

other  hand,  is  a  trauma  of  the  navicular  bone, 
which  is  an  ossicle,  or  small  bone,  in  the  center 
of  the  foot.  A  horse  afflicted  with  this  disease 
usually  points  his  toe  when  standing  at  rest. 
A  horse  having  navicular,  will  go  quite  lame 
when  cold,  but  if  the  disease  is  only  in  its 
incipiency,  he  will  often  warm  out  of  the  lame- 
ness with  exercise.  Navicular  is  absolutely 
incurable. 

Laminitis  (founder)  is  a  very  common  ail- 
ment of  the  horse.  It  is  a  kind  of  membrane 
congestion,  often  due  to  overwork  after  over- 
feeding, or  to  excessive  drinking  when  the 
animal  is  hot.  Soreness  in  front  and  rings  on 
the  hoofs  are  an  indication  of  this  disease.  It 
always  constitutes  an  unsoundness. 

Before  purchasing  a  horse,  he  should  be 
made  to  exercise  so  that  his  wind  can  be 
examined;  a  horse  with  defective  wind  being, 
in  almost  all  cases,  very  unsatisfactory  for  any 
kind  of  work.  If  a  horse,  after  violent  exer- 
cise, breathes  hard,  with  an  audible  sound 
from  the  lungs,  it  has  defective  wind.  Also 
a  horse  whose  sides  heave,  relaxing  and  con- 
tracting to  an  unusual  degree  after  a  certain 
amount  of  exercise,  has  probably  defective 
wind. 

I  use  defective  to  denote  an  impairment  of 
the  horse  for  that  work  which  may  be  required 
of  him.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  animal, 
when  exercised,  merely  gives  a  snorting  sound 

90 


T       H        E       -:-       H       O       R       S        E 

from  his  nostrils,  or  a  certain  sound  from  his 
larynx,  which  is  not  due  to  paralytic  roaring, 
and  shows  none  of  the  other  symptoms  that 
have  been  mentioned,  he  has  probably  nothing 
more  than  a  localized  peculiarity  which  does 
him  no  real  harm  in  regard  to  work. 

Wind-sucking,  or  crib-biting,  as  it  is  some- 
times called,  is  more  a  habit  of  the  horse  than 
a  defect  of  respiration.  It  is  a  very  undesir- 
able habit,  since  the  horse  by  indulging  it 
inflates  his  inside,  and  thus  renders  himself 
less  capable  of  performing  the  duties  that  may 
be  required  of  him.  The  habit  is  sometimes 
contagious  by  imitation.  When  a  horse  cribs, 
he  usually  catches  on  to  some  wooden  projec- 
tion with  his  teeth  and  takes  in  air  with 
a  sucking  sound.  If  the  horse's  teeth  are 
peculiarly  worn  down  in  front,  or  the  part 
of  the  stall  where  he  has  been  standing  shows 
tooth  wear,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
he  is  a  wind-sucker. 


91 


H       E       -:-       H       O       R       S       E 


*    CHAPTER  XI. 

Teaching  children  to  ride — Cannot  begin  too  young — An 
old  plug  better  than  a  pony — Experience  the  best  riding  mas- 
ter— Psychology  of  the  horse — He  has  not  the  power  of  deduc- 
tion— Trick  horses — How  they  are  made  to  appear  to  have 
reasoning  faculties — They  only  obey  commands. 

Teaching  Children  to  Ride. — I  started  to 
ride  at  four  years  old  and  I  believe  this  age 
not  too  young  to  commence  riding  with  a  lead 
rope.  For  a  child  I  consider  an  old,  thoroughly 
gentle  horse  better  than  any  kind  of  pony, 
because  his  movements  are  apt  to  be  slower, 
and  he  usually  has  more  sense.  A  common 
mistake  made  in  regard  to  letting  small  chil- 
dren ride,  is  the  thought  that  merely  because 
a  pony  happens  to  be  very  tiny  he  can  do  no 
serious  harm  to  the  child,  and  what  in  a  big 
horse  would  be  considered  viciousness  in  a 
little  pony  is  looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  cute 
playfulness.  It  is  a  fact  that  young  children 
are  injured  far  more  frequently  by  little  ponies 
than  by  horses. 

I  think  the  ideal  way  for  a  child  to  begin 
riding  is  to  place  him  upon  an  old  plug  bare- 
back. Lead  the  animal  around  slowly  until 
the  child  gets  used  to  the  motion  and  feel  of 
the  back.  He  will  get  a  natural  seat  far  more 
quickly  bare-back  than  if  at  first  he  is  per- 
mitted to  ride  in  a  saddle.  After  the  child 
becomes  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  feel  of 
the  horse  as  he  is  led  around  slowly,  a  saddle 

92 


THE-:-       HORSE 

may  be  used,  and  the  child  allowed  to  ride 
holding  the  reins  and  guiding  it  himself.  Of 
course,  this  is  presupposing  that  the  horse  in 
question  is  such  a  plug  that  nothing  can  in- 
duce it  to  run  off  and  that  its  natural  tendency 
will  be  to  stand  still  unless  forcibly  urged. 

Variety  of  experience  will  make  the  child 
into  a  good  rider  more  rapidly  than  books  or 
constant  instruction  can  possibly  do.  When 
the  child  becomes  fairly  used  to  riding,  a  good 
exercise  is  the  use  of  the  saddle  without  stir- 
rups. 

In  order  to  make  rapid  progress  in  riding 
a  child  should  always  be  made  to  overdo  a 
little.  For  example,  he  should  be  urged  to 
ride  a  little  faster  without  holding  on  to  the 
saddle  than  he  feels  he  is  able  to  do.  He 
should  be  encouraged  to  relax  on  the  back  of 
a  horse,  and  see  how  far  he  can  overbalance 
to  the  sides  without  falling  off.  He  should  be 
made  to  ride  the  horse  at  a  good  trot,  which 
at  first  will  be  very  uncomfortable.  The  next 
day  he  should  be  urged  to  ride  this  way  for  a 
little  longer  time,  and  by  degrees  he  will  gain 
confidence  and  be  aware  of  improvement, 
which  is  an  important  factor  in  the  mind  of 
a  child  that  is  learning  to  ride. 

Psychology. — It  is  said  of  the  horse  that, 
considering  his  size,  he  has  the  smallest  brain 
of  all  the  animals.  It  is  probably  as  well  that 
an  animal  used  as  a  beast  of  burden  should  not 

93 


THE-:-       HORSE 

be  too  intelligent,  because  if  he  were,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  make  him  obey  the  whim  of  his 
rider.  The  horse  has  desires.  If  his  desires 
conflict  with  the  wants  of  man  he  is  useless 
for  the  purposes  of  man.  How  to  make  his 
desires  coincide  with  those  of  his  rider  is  the 
real  problem  in  the  training  of  a  horse. 

Animals,  according  to  some  authorities, 
have  the  power  of  reasoning.  I  think,  how- 
ever, and  believe  it  is  the  consensus  of  opinion, 
that,  in  the  specific  sense  of  the  term,  they 
have  no  such  power. 

In  the  animal,  keenness  of  sense  takes  the 
place  of  strength  of  intellect.  The  horse's 
mind  is  susceptible  of  a  process,  which  in  a 
very  broad  sense  might  be  called  reasoning. 
It  is,  in  fact,  an  induction  by  analogy.  His 
mental  force  is  guided  by  a  kind  of  channel 
pertaining  to  idea  association,  and  in  this 
attribute  his  mind  and  that  of  a  human  being 
coincide. 

A  horse  often  has  a  marvelous  memory  and 
extraordinary  power  of  observation.  He  has 
perception  without  apperception,  perception 
being  a  state  which  has  no  power  of  thought 
review,  and  consequently  cannot  create  a  new 
psychological  force.  What  follows  is  an 
example  of  how  the  horse  thinks.  A  horse 
has  been  taken  for  a  very  long  ride.  Perhaps 
he  has  been  quiet  and  displayed  little  enthusi- 
asm to  increase  his  pace  or  to  change  his 

94 


THE-:-       HORSE 

direction.  He  now  is  turned  into  a  lane  not 
far  from  and  leading  to  his  stable.  At  that 
moment  he  shows  that  he  wishes  to  accelerate 
his  pace  and,  with  ears  cocked  forward,  and 
prancing,  gives  evidence  of  a  strong  desire  to 
move  ahead. 

We  here  have  the  indications  of  a  thought 
on  the  part  of  the  animal.  What  is  the  cause 
of  this  thought?  Analysis  brings  us  to  the 
following  conclusion:  Through  idea  associa- 
tion, made  aware  of  the  presence  of  the  stable, 
which  is  again  associated  with  food,  rest,  free- 
dom from  equipment  and  so  forth,  the  horse 
is  stimulated  and  encouraged  to  go  ahead, 
because  now  to  his  mind  there  is  a  definite 
and  desirable  object  in  view. 

In  like  manner,  a  very  thirsty  horse  hurries 
to  water.  He  has  not  the  power  to  draw  the 
conclusion  from  the  premises — first,  that  he 
wants  water;  secondly,  that  hurrying  in  the 
right  direction  brings  one  to  what  is  wanted 
more  quickly — that  hurrying  in  this  way  will 
bring  him  more  quickly  to  water.  The  fore- 
going case  is  clearly  deductive  reasoning,  em- 
bodying the  higher  intellectual  force  of  which 
the  human  mind  alone  is  capable.  It  is  true 
that  the  horse  arrives  at  the  same  result  that 
deductive  reasoning  would  bring,  but  he  does 
it  in  this  way.  He  is  instinctively  drawn  to 
water  by  physical  want.  He  remembers  that 
hurrying  to  water  has  actually  brought  him 

95 


THE-;-       HORSE 

water  sooner  than  on  the  occasions  when  his 
thirst  was  not  so  great  and  he  moved  slowly 
in  the  direction  of  the  trough.  He  has  the 
psycho-physiological  desire  for  water,  and  he 
arrives  at  a  kind  of  analogical  induction,  re- 
membering all  the  times  he  has  hurried  in 
order  that  he  could  drink  and  was  able  to 
satisfy  his  thirst,  that  hurrying  to  drink  means 
immediate  drinking.  This,  then,  is  the  real 
reason  for  his  hurrying  forward,  and  is  based 
upon  comparison  and  analogy. 

Horses  shown  at  circuses,  supposed  to  be 
able  to  do  mathematical  problems  and  dis- 
tinguish colors  pertaining  to  persons  in  the 
audience,  are  animals  that  have  extraordi- 
narily keen  perception.  But  the  counting  or 
distinguishing  a  color,  or  any  other  remark- 
able feat  a  horse  is  supposed  to  perform  by 
virtue  of  his  reasoning  faculties,  is  accom- 
plished entirely  by  trick  methods,  and  a  super- 
finely  cultivated  sense.  The  horse  will  paw 
a  certain  number  of  times,  or  pick  up  a  color, 
because  his  trainer  has  made  some  almost  im- 
perceptible movement  with  whip,  hand  or 
body,  and  not  because  he  has  in  any  way 
understood  from  the  man's  discourse  what  he 
is  wanted  to  do. 

Trick  animals  of  this  sort  are  usually  in- 
structed according  to  system,  and  the  animal 
is  made  to  do  a  number  of  things  always  in 
the  same  order.  He  finally  forms  a  habit  and, 

96 


THE-:-       HORSE 

like  a  gramophone  needle  will,  when  started 
off,  continue  in  the  same  groove.  His  trainer 
then  will  often  take  occasion  to  talk  at  the 
proper  intervals  between  the  horse's  perform- 
ances, purporting  to  instruct  the  horse  what 
to  do,  but  in  reality  merely  anticipating  his 
movements  by  words. 

Of  course,  the  horse  has  an  eye  for  color 
and  an  ear  for  sound,  and  he  can  be  made  to 
obey  commands.  For  instance,  a  command 
is  given.  The  horse  disobeys  and  punishment 
ensues.  In  time  he  finds  that  if  such  a  com- 
mand is  given  and  he  acts  a  certain  way 
punishment  will  not  follow,  then  associating 
these  two  things  in  his  mind,  the  command 
having  been  given,  he  will  act  in  that  certain 
way  so  that  punishment  will  not  ensue. 

To  distinguish  colors,  the  problem  is  to 
make  the  horse  by  some  physical  manifesta- 
tion indicate  his  understanding  of  the  differ- 
ence of  color.  Since  this  cannot  be  done,  the 
next  best  thing,  which  is  in  fact  what  most 
trainers  do,  is  to  make  the  horse  give  the 
appearance  of  indicating  color  by  an  appeal 
(usually  imperceptible  to  the  audience)  to  his 
sensorium  in  contradistinction  to  his  mind. 

Instinct  in  itself  is  a  large  subject.  It  is 
an  important  factor  in  the  mind  of  an  animal, 
while  intuition  which  involves  cognizance  of 
a  previously  registered  conclusion  belongs  to 
man  alone. 

THE  END 
97 


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